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PREFACE. 

The text-book which is here by permission presented in 
an English dress is by two of the most distingnished of 
the modern school of French historians. It is remarkable 
among text-books on this diflBcnlt period for its great sim- 
plicity of statement, and for the fulness with which it 
treats of topics not usually taken up in detail, notably of 
the medieval church. Of their purpose in the book the 
authors say in their introduction : '" We have attempted 
to give to this volume a certain unity, not to make a simple 
chronological enumeration of events, but to group the de- 
tails around the more important facts — the formation 
of the feudal system in succession to the Germanic inva- 
sions, the development of the Catholic Church, the strife 
of Christian Europe against the Mussulman Orient, the 
struggle between the Papacy and the Empire leading to 
the fall of the German power, the formation of strong 
monarchies in France and in England. We have in par- 
ticular given a large place to the role and to the history 
of the Church which dominates all this period, and which 
has been ordinarily so neglected in our schoolbooks, and 
have sought to make clear how France obtained in the 
thirteenth century a sort of political and intellectual 
hegemony in Europe. We hope those who read will under- 
stand what were the great ideas and directive tendencies 
which determined the historical evolution of the Middle 
Ages. We have always kept in mind in writing the con- 
clusion to which we were advancing." 

The verdict of reader and student alike will be, I am 

iii 



ti\ 



iv PREFACE. 

sure, that these purposes have been realised in an unusual 
degree. 

A few slight revisions have been made in the text and 
a few notes have been added. Of the bibliographical notes 
at the beginning of the chapters, those which stood first, 
relating to the sources, have been left practically as in 
the original, as furnishing in that form a sufficient intro- 
duction to the original material for the purposes of this 
book. The second in order, dealing with the literature, 
have been in nearly all cases rewritten, with especial 
reference to the probable uses of this translation. 

George Burton Adams. 

July 21, 1902. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAOB 

I. The Roman Empire at the End op the Fourth 

Century, 1 

II. The Barbarians, 21 

III. Tele Germanic Invasions — the Vandals, the 

Visigoths, and the Huns, (376-476), . . 33 

IV. The Germanic Invasions— the Ostrogoths, . 54 
V. The Germanic Invasions — the Barbarians in 

Gaul— Clovis, 63 

VI. The Frankish Kingdom prom 511-639, . . 73 
VII. Institutions of Gaul APTER the Invasions, . 86 
VIII. The Roman Empire op the East in the Sixth 

Century, 99 

IX. The Last Invasions and the Papacy — the Lom- 
bards AND Gregory the Great-^the Anglo- 
Saxons AND MoNASTICISM, .... 115 

X. The Arabs — Mohammed, 135 

XI. Arabian Empire — Conquest and Civilisation, . 148 
XII. The Faineant Kings- Foundation op the Caro- 

lingian Dynasty — Charlemagne, . . 167 

XIII. Empire op the Franks — Carolingian Customs 

AND Institutions, 193 

XIV. The Carolingian Decadence, 814-888, . . 211 
XV. The Last Carolingians — Invasions op the Sara- 
cens, Hungarians, and Norsemen — Origin 

OP Feudalism, 229 

XVI. The Feudal System, 246 

XVII. Germany and Italy— 888-1056, . . . .268 
XVIII. Emperor and Pope— Church Reporm— Gregory 

VIL, 286 

XIX. The Guelps and Hohenstaupen— Alexander 

III. AND Frederick I. , Barbarossa, . . 301 
XX. End op the Hohenstaupen — Victory of the 

Papacy over the Empire, .... 319 

V 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



CllAPTBR 

XXI. 

XXII. 
XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 
XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 



General 
Index, 



PAGE 

The Christian and Mussulman Orient from 

THE Seventh to the Eleventh Century, . 336 

The Crusades, 348 

The Country Districts and Cities of France 

—Emancipation of Peasants and Bourgeois, S75 

French Royalty— 987-1154 391 

French Royalty— 1154-1270, . . . .403 

Institutions of CapetIxVN Royalty, . . .421 
England from tub Ninth to the Thirteenth 

Century, 445 

Continental Europe, 467 

The Roman Church in the Thirteenth 

Century, 488 

The Church and Heresies, 506 

Christian and Feudal Crtlisation — Instruc- 
tion and Sciences — Literature and Arts — 

Worship, 515 

Summary, 545 

. . . 651 



LIST OF MAPS. 

The Roman Empire of the Fourth Century, . . 1/ 

Europe in the Reign of Theodoric, Cir. A D. 500, . 57 

Europe at the Death of Justinian, A. D. 565, . . 113 

Europe, End of the Seventh Century, A. D 695, . . 154 

Europe in the Time of Charles the Great, A. D. 814, . 191 

The Western Empire as Divided at Verdun, A. D. 843, 217 

The Western Empire as Divided A. D. 870, . . . 236 

Central Europe, Cir. 980, 265 

Central Europe, 1180 314 

Greatest Extent op the Saracens' Dominions, , . 351 



Vll 




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CHAPTEK I. 

THE KOMAN EMPIRE AT THE END OF THE FOURTH 

CENTURY.* 

1. Extent of the Empire. — At the end of the fourth 
century the Eoman Empire still comprised the entire 
basin of the Mediterranean. In Europe its continental 
limits were the Rhine and the Danube; in Asia, an unde- 
fined frontier, modified constantly by wars with the Ar- 
menians and Persians, followed the eastern slope of the 
Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) to the foot of the Caucasus 

* Sources. — " Notitia dignitatum et admiiiistrationum Orientis 
et Occidentis." Edition Boeckiag (1839-1853), and O. Seeck (1877). 
(Translated by Fairley in " Translations and Reprints," University of 
Pennsylvania.) This is a kind of " imperial almanac," edited in its 
oldest form, in the first years of the fifth century. The " Peutinger 
Table." This is a kind of road map of the Roman Empire made 
without doubt in the fourth century, and which belonged, in the 
sixteenth, to a rich burgher of Augsburg, Conrad Peutinger, whence 
its name. Unfinished edition by E. Desjardins (1869). The im- 
perial laws drawn up by order of Theodosius II. and Justinian have 
often been published: " Codices Gregorianus, Hermogenianus, 
Theodosianus," edition Haenel (1842); "Codex Justinianus" and 
" Institutiones," edition Krueger(1877 and 1867); " Digesta," edition 
Mommsen (1868). 

Literature. — Bloch, "LaGaule Independante et la Gaule Ro- 
maine," vol. i. part ii. of Lavisse's " Histoire de France "; Momm- 
sen. "The Provinces of the Roman Empire"; Dill, "Roman 
Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire." Second 
edition. 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

:\Iountains and extended into Armenia around Lake Van, 
thence in an almost straight line to the Ked Sea, crossing 
the Tigris below Tigranocerta, and the Euphrates at its 
junction with the Chaboras at Circesium. On the south, 
Egypt up to and beyond the first cataract, and the north- 
ern slope of Africa, with Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and 
j\Iauritania, belonged to Eome, which possessed in the 
valley of the Nile and in the modern Tunis the wheat 
granaries that supplied the hungry people of the two capi- 
tals. On the west the Atlantic Ocean formed the hori- 
zon of the ancients, who imagined beyond it the mys- 
terious land of the blessed ones. On the north the island 
of Britannia belonged to the Empire, 'rzith the exception 
of the mountainous region of Caledonia, which retained 
its independence, as did Hibernia, or Ireland. 

2. The Emperor. The Worship of the Emperors.— 
Within these limits Eome held sway over the most diverse 
peoples. The imperial regime, organised little by little^ 
reached its definite form under Diocletian (285-305) and' 
Constantine the Great (312-337). 'The emperor, con- 
sidered a divine personage, was the bead of both ChnrGh 
and state. He lived like an Oriental prince in the midst 
of im.posing splendour, surrounded by a world of courtiers 
and servants, all proud of their donlfistic functions. He 
governed, aided by a Council of State, the high digni- 
taries of his palace, and the ministers, who controlled a 
hierarchy of officials. In spite of the wretchedness of 
the third and fourth centuries, and the manifest inca- 
pacity oi- imworthiness of so many of the emperors, the 
prestige of the Eoman name still exerted great influence 
over the minds of the enlightened citizens of the Empire 
and the simple imagination of the barbarian peoples. 
From the time of Augustus the imperial majesty and 
Eome, the capital of the world, were adored. This ofi&~ 



GAUL. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS. 3 

eial cult was not an evidence of abject servility; it was an 
expression^ emphatic though doubtless sincere, of grati- 
tude for Eoman civilisation. Outside of the Empire 
there was nothing, in the eyes of the Romans, except bar- 
barism. 

3. Administrative Divisions of the Empire. — At the 
death of Theodosius the Great (395) the Empire was gov- 
erned by two emperors — Arcadius in the Orient and 
Honorius in the Occident. It was considered, however, a 
single empire. It was divided into four prefectures — or 
six, if the prefectures of Rome and Constantinople are in- 
cluded; each prefecture was divided into dioceses, four- 
teen in number; each diocese into provinces, one hundred 
and nineteen in number; the provinces were subdivided 
into townships * (civitafes) and the townships into 
cantons. 

A precise idea of provincial administration may be 
gained by noting what took place at that time in Gaul. 

4. Gaul. Administrative Divisions. — Gaul, in the ordi- 
nary sense of the word, that is to say the country lying 
between the Pyrenees, the Rhine, the Alps, and the sea, 
formed at the end of the fourth century a diocese which 
was divided into seventeen provinces. Seven southern 
provinces, partly corresponding to the former Roman 
province, formed a separate body, with its own adminis- 
tration. In administrative terms the expression " Gauls '' 
was reserved to the ten other provinces. The provinces 
were subdivided into townships (civitates) to the number 
of one hundred and twelve, and somewhat later to one 

*Not township in the English or American sense, but the district 
politically united with the Roman town or city. It corresponds 
more nearly, in reality, to our county, and is possibly the ancestor of 
the territorial division from whi<;h the name "county" comes to 
us. — Ed. 



4 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

hundred and fifteen. The cantons {pagi), the number of 
which is unknown, were the territorial divisions of the 
former Gallic tribes. These divisions had been respected 
by the conquerors, and incorporated into the new divi- 
sions. 

5. The Praetorian Prefect.— The praetorian prefect waa 
at the head of the civil administration in Gaul. His offi- 
cial residence was at Treves; later, from the year 400, at 
Aries, far from the frontier, which was harassed by the 
barbarians. His powers were most extensive; he pub- 
lished the laws, superintended the collection of imposts, 
administered the public domains, the imperial posts, 
supervised the provincial governors, and with his assessors 
judged without appeal; he also had charge of recruiting 
and of army supplies. He had under his immediate 
orders a vice-prefect {vicarius), for the group of 
seven provinces, and a master of soldiers {magister 
militum). 

6. The Governors of the Seventeen Provinces. — The 
seventeen governors (six consulares and eleven prcesides) 
resided in the principal town or metropolis of the prov- 
ince. They had a numerous retinue of personal followers. 
The clerks were apportioned to bureaus {officia, scrinia); 
they had a life appointment, almost an hereditary one. 
They were expected to aid the governor, and were respon- 
sible for the errors which the latter might commit. Like 
the functions of the prefects, those of the governors were 
most varied; these officers were both administrators and 
judges. They were paid in money, and were given certain, 
equipments, of which a writer of the third century fur- 
nishes the following details: "Twenty pounds of silver 
and one hundred pieces of gold, six jugs of wine, two 
mules and two horses, two ceremonial costumes, one 
simple costume, a bath, a cook, a muleteer." It was only 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 5 

under Theodosius II. that the custom of providing equip- 
ments was discontinued. 

7. Municipal Government. — Under the authority and 
protection of the governors the laws and customs of the 
municipal government were freely administered in the 
townships (civitates). These comprised a territory of 
moderate extent, which may be compared to the French 
departments; they contained, therefore, a certain number 
of cities, market towns, and villages ruled by a kind of 
general council. This was the Senate or curia (curia). 
The members of this Senate were taken from among the 
freemen or proprietors who owned at least twenty-five 
jugera * of land in the township. They made up the 
class of curials (curiaies) or decurions, which was named 
ordo decurionum. Their functions were obligatory and 
hereditary; every son of a curial became one himself at 
the age of eighteen. The curials bore in fact many bur- 
dens of state or city. They were responsible individu- 
ally with their personal fortunes for the payment of 
taxes. On the other hand they enjoyed certain priv- 
ileges; such as exemption from the bastinado and tor- 
ture, and they received marked consideration from the 
governor. The Senate named the magistrates of the city, 
aided them in the maintenance of order, in the adminis- 
tration of food supplies (annona), charitable establish- 
ments, religion, and the communal finances. Above the 
curials in rank were the senators. They were the richest 
and most important men of the community, who had re- 
ceived from the emperor the right to sit in the Senate at 
Rome, and the rank of senator, although without the 

* The jugerum was a rectangular surface measuring 2518m. 88 
(27,097.92 sq. ft. English); it was divided into one hundred equal 
parts c&Wed perticcB (perches). 



6 THE R021AN EMPIRE. 

functions appertaining to this office. They should not be 
confounded with the members of the municipal Senate. 

8. Municipal Magistrates. — The magistrates were 
chosen from among the curials and according to a definite 
order. They were the quaestors, the ediles, the decemvirs, 
for judicial and financial matters; the priests, flamens, 
for the municipal worship; the tribuni militum a populo, 
for the maintenance of law and order; the curatores, for 
the administration of public property. These officers 
were appointed for a year, and were responsible for their 
administration. Added to these magistracies was a new 
office of defensor, created in lUyria in 364; this finally be- 
came general. Heretofore the municipalities had chosen 
some influential Eoman to act as their patron and ad- 
vocate. More than once he took advantage of the city 
which had profited by his services and made himself mas- 
ter of it. In order to regulate this abuse the emperor 
suppressed patronage and created the office of defensor. 
The defensors were at first named by the government, 
then elected by the people for five years. They were 
chosen not from among the curials, but from the notables 
of the community. They were not popular, for they had 
to protect the lower classes, defend them even against 
the curials, and also guard the interests of the treasury 
by preventing the curials from deserting the curia. It 
has often been said that the bishop was usually named 
for defensor; it would be more exact to say that he gradu- 
ally replaced him. 

9. Towns and Villages.— As time went on the munic- 
ipal organisation was more and more extended to small, 
places. Certain pagi had a local assembly and magis- 
trates. Simple fortified camps (casira) were given a 
municipal constitution. Gaul is one of the countries 
where the dismemberment of the original municipalities 



THE PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLIES. 7 

was the most frequent. It was as when, in the Middle 
Ages, the smallest town demanded its liberty, its charter, 
and its customs. The villages progressed more slowly. 
During the Roman epoch they had a local worship and 
their priests; when converted to Christianity they formed 
parishes, but had to wait until the eighteenth century to 
become communes. 

Parcelling out the municipalities weakened them. Be- 
sides, the invasions ruined the curials, some of whom 
sank to the lower classes, while others entered the ranks 
of the clergy or withdrew into monasteries; the richer 
ones, eager to avoid municipal burdens, passed from the 
ordo decurionum into the superior rank of senators. 
Thus this class of the curials, on whom rested the finan- 
cial and municipal organisation of the Empire, soon dis- 
appeared, and with it the regime whose instrument they 
were. In the greater part of Gaul, at least, this regime 
left but a faint trace in the Middle Ages. 

10. The Provincial Assemblies. — Another institution 
suffered a like fate. This was the Provincial Assemblies, 
which the Empire, having created, did not know how to 
use or would not use intelligently. Those of Gaul are 
the best known to us. The most ancient met in Lyons, 
near the temple raised in honour of Rome and Augustus, 
which was decorated with statues of the Gallic cities. 
One was also held at Xarbonne. These assemblies were 
composed of the municipal magistrates, consequently of 
the rich proprietors of Gaul. After deliberating in com- 
mon, resolutions were carried by a majority vote, and 
delegates were instructed to present them to the emperor. 
An inscription of the year 238, found at Torigny (depart- 
ment of the Manche), gives the very instructive text of 
some resolutions of the assembly at Lyons. It is a com- 
plaint of the bad administration of a governor of Lyon- 



8 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

naise Gaul, which brought, however, no satisfaction. In 
the fifth century the Emperor Honorius tried to sys- 
tematise this institution, at least in the south of Gaul. 
An edict of 418 ordered that the Seven Provinces should 
hold, henceforth, their assembly at a specified time, in 
the city of Aries; it should be composed of ex-magistrates, 
important proprietors, and the judges of each province. 
" We wish," said the emperor, " that this reunion of in- 
fluential citizens may express its opinion on the general 
interests of the country." But it was too late to revive 
provincial life, in the midst of the great invasions, and 
Honorius' edict remained a dead letter. 

11. Condition of Roman Gaul Compared with that of 
Barbarian Gaul. — Compared with what it had been before 
the Eoman conquest, Gaul may be a criterion of the prog- 
ress accomplished by the barbarian tribes under the rule 
of Rome. Excessive partitioning and internal dissen- 
sions had brought about the loss of its independence. 
Its political divisions were not entirely ignored and abol- 
ished by the Romans, for the townships represented, to 
a certain point, the former tribal divisions, but internal 
peace was established by a severe administration. Well 
governed, Gaul had promptly become Romanised, and it 
was not long in assuming the leadership of the Eastern 
provinces. It watched at the gates of barbarism and led 
the vanguard of civilisation. 

12. Public Offices : Justice. — Passing from the adminis- 
tration proper, the important public offices should be 
studied. The judicial organisation comprised several de- 
grees. (1) In the cities the municipal magistrates 
{duumviri juri dicundo) judged civil suits of minor 
interest, but they were not competent for criminal trials. 
Wills, marriage contracts, and adoptions were drawn up 
in their presence. The defensor, in cities where this office 



IMPOSTS. d 

was instituted, assumed the duties of the duumviri. (2) 
The governor's powers were much more extended; he 
judged both criminal and civil suits. At certain times in 
the year he made the circuit of his province; he was then 
forbidden to stop with a rich private individual or in an 
attractive country. He was obliged to hold the assizes 
in the large centres of population. He judged sometimes 
alone, more often surrounded by the assessors named and 
paid by him, but always in a spot accessible to all. The 
parties in a suit might be represented by procurors and 
defended by advocates; the latter formed a close and 
privileged corporation. (3) There was the right of appeal 
to the vicariite from the governor, from the vicar to the 
prefect, and from the prefect to the emperor. The pon- 
tifical law of ancient Eome was no longer used in the 
courts; there was no distinction between the law of citi- 
zens and that of foreigners. The great jurisconsults of 
the second and third centuries — Papianus, Paulus, Gains, 
Ulpianus, Modestinus — were especially guided by prin- 
ciples which they deduced from the very nature of things. 
In 426 Yalentinius III. gave to their decisions the force 
of law. This was the foundation of Roman law, which 
has been called, and justly so, " written reason." 

13. Finances: Division of the Subject. — The financial 
administration was divided into three departments, ac- 
cording as the imposts were destined to the public ex- 
chequer (cerarium sacrum, or sacrce largitiones), the pri- 
vate exchequer of the emperor {cerarium privatum, or pri- 
vatce largitiones), or that of the prefects. 

14. Imposts. — The public exchequer was administered 
by the comes sacrarum largitionum, who had many subordi- 
nates in the capitals and provinces. He levied the fol- 
lowing taxes: (1) property taxes (tributa), paid in by the 
landed proprietors {capitatio terrena), by the merchants 



10 TEE EOJfAJ^ EMPIRE. 

(chry&argijrixLm)y and by the eoloni, who cultivated the land 
AA-ithout o^Tiing it (capitatio plebeia or humana). The im- 
perial nobility was exempt from these imposts, but paid 
a special contribution; the senators paid the gleha sena- 
toria, the oblatio votorum, and the aurum oUatitium; the 
curials were subject to a special tax, the aurum corona- 
rium, which was originally voluntary. (2) Indirect taxes 
{vectigalia). These were customs, duties, and tolls, farmed 
by companies of contractors, publicans, mostly freedmen, 
who employed many slaves in their offices. The market 
taxes of the Middle Ages were a continuation of these 
portoria of the Roman epoch. (3) The products of 
mines, marble quarries, salt works, imperial manufactures 
and minting. In manufacturing and mining the state 
employed workmen who were members of heredi- 
tary corporations. The private exchequer was ad- 
ministered by the comes rerum privatarum ; he collected 
the revenues of the old domains of the state, of the 
crown, of the emperor^s patrimony, and of land confis- 
cated, escheated, or vacant. These revenues were usually 
set apart for expenses of a private nature, while the 
revenues of the " sacred '' exchequer were for public ex- 
penses; however, the emperor had the right to dispose of 
both as he saw fit. Finally each prefect had a fund in 
particular supplied by the annona. This was a contribu- 
tion paid in in kind. For example, Egypt furnished 
wheat to Constantinople, and Africa to Rome. Here the 
prefect distributed it at a low price, or free, to the poor, 
who were all the more numerous since the state favoured 
their idleness; in the other prefectures the •annona was 
used for paying the troops and civil servants. 

15. Unjust Levying of Taxes. Oppression of the 
Curials. — It does not appear that these imposts weighed 
too heavily on the subjects of the Empire in ordinary 



MONETARY SYSTEM. 11 

times; they were on the contrary moderate and equitably 
divided. But the system of tax collecting was bad. 
Here there were companies which farmed the taxes, and 
they did not fail to raise the customs, duties, and tolls, 
since, after turning in to the imperial exchequer the re- 
quired amount, they appropriated the surplus; there, 
there were citizens who, in each community, in each cor- 
poration, levied the tax and were personally responsible 
for it. Hence arose injustice and ty^ann3^ ^'' So many 
Gurials, just so many tyrants," wrote Salvian, an author 
of the fifth century. The curials, on their side, were 
often ruined by these functions, whence there was no 
escape, since they were responsible with their own pri- 
vate fortunes for the sum total of the imposts required 
by the emperor, and their fortunes were ceaselessly di- 
minished by the invasions. The laws preventing the 
curials from joining the barbarians increased in severity 
during the fifth century: a proof that the law was power- 
less and that their condition was growing worse. 

16. Monetary System. — The payment of imposts was 
made in kind or in coin. The money of the Empire was 
coined, as in our day, from three metals: gold, silver, and 
copper. The principal gold coin was the aureus, or the 
gold penny, worth about two dollars and seventy cents of 
our money. The principal silver piece was the argenUnSy 
ninety-six of which were struck from a pound of silver; 
twenty-five of these, or one hundred sesterces, equalled an 
aureus. Base metal, made of copper with an alloy of 
zinc, silver, and tin, was used for coins of ten and of two 
and five-tenths grammes, which passed for a sum far 
above their real value; but copper coins were only much' 
depreciated small change. 

From the time of Augustus coins bore the effigy of the 
emperor, with his names, titles, and dignities, as well aa 



12 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

devices intended to convey his praises. After Aurelian, 
who suppressed the Senate's mint at Rome, the imperial 
mint replaced all others. The staff of workmen was re- 
cruited from among organised bodies of slaves or freed- 
men, powerful enough to foment grave strikes when their 
privileges were threatened. 

17. Banking. The Argentarius. — Money might be, 
like anything else, an object of trade. Under the name 
of argeniarius Rome had what to-day would be termed a 
banker. He changed money, took it on deposit and at 
interest, opened accounts with the rich and with mer- 
chants, collected debts, lent money, etc. 

18. The Army. — The army was made up of volunteers, 
or of recruits furnished by the landed proprietors accord- 
ing to their estate, or of sons of veterans who, on leaving 
the service, had obtained from the emperor a grant of 
land. The time of service was very long; the minimum 
was sixteen years, the maximum twenty-five. Hence a 
man was a soldier all his life, a wretched condition for 
the poor men who were forcibly enrolled in times of 
urgent need. The soldiers were citizens, or became so on 
entering or leaving the service. They were enrolled in 
the legions of infantry or cavalry. The auxiliaries, who 
were often bands of barbarians in the pay of the Empire, 
became more and more numerous. The magistri militum 
were at the head of the army; in the fifth century there 
were eight, five in the East and three in the West. One 
of these latter commanded the armed force in Gaul, with 
dukes and counts under him in command of the military 
divisions. 

19. The Fleet. — These same officers directed the move- 
ments of the fleets, which had stations throughout the 
Empire. These were at Misenum, Ravenna, Eg}'pt, 
Africa, Syria, the Black Sea, Britain, Frejus, the Rhine, 



PUBLIC IN8TBUCTI0N, 13 

with an arsenal at Mayence, the Danube, the Euphrates, 
the Ehone, with stations at Vienne and at Aries, the 
Saone at Chalons, and on Lakes Como and Neufchatel. 
There were many arsenals for the storage of weapons and 
ships' stores. 

20. Strength and Weakness of the Roman Army. — Four 
hundred thousand soldiers and some thousands of sailors 
were a sufficient force to defend an empire of more than 
one hundred million inhabitants. Entrenched camps on 
the frontiers, and fortresses protected by thick stone walls, 
the whole bound together by a network of military roads, 
of which the Peutinger map gives us some idea, gave to 
Eome a great power of resistance, while a highly per- 
fected military science assured her superiority over the 
barbarians. But the military virtues were lacking in an 
army which was no longer Eoman except in name. Rome 
had grown great by her army, and was to perish by it. 

21. The Arts. — Her share in the cultivation of the 
mind was great. Towns were beautified by arenas, 
theatres, colossal aqueducts, and hosts of statues. The 
arenas of Mmes and Aries, the Maison-Carree of Nimes, 
the theatres of Aries and Orange, the Pont du Gard, the 
Thermes of Julian at Paris, the gateways of Autun and 
Treves, without mentioning the statuary in our museums, 
bear witness to-day, on the soil of ancient Gaul, to the 
splendour of Roman civilisation. 

22. Public Instruction. — Public instruction was not 
neglected. At school a child of good birth was taught 
grammar, rhetoric, arithmetic — that is to say the art of 
combining words, phrases, and numbers. The ground- 
work of the teaching was the elucidation of some famous 
author, Horace or Vergil, for example. The principal 
academic training was in oratory, for the worship of elo- 
quence survived liberty — which had fostered it. No edu- 



14 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

cation was complete without Greek. In the fourth cen- 
tury the school of Athens, with Proeresios and his most 
brilliant disciples. Saint Basil, Saint Gregory Nazianzen, 
and the Emperor Julian, shone brilliantly until the inva- 
sion of the barbarians. In Gaul famous schools were 
established at Marseilles and Autun in the first century, 
later at Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyons, Treves, etc., which 
taught philosophy, medicine, law, letters, grammar, 
astrology. The professors were paid by the state. The 
four professors of philosophy at Athens drew a salary of 
ten thousand drachmas ($1750). 

23. Literature. — Literature was declining, but Greece 
still brought forth famous professors of rhetoric; Alex- 
andria, subtle philosophers; Gaul and Italy, elegant poets, 
such as Claudian, Ansonius of Bordeaux, or Kutilius 
Xamatianus of Poitiers. The fourth century counted 
one more remarkable historian, x\mmianus Marcellinus. 
The treasures of classic antiquity were scattered through 
many libraries. At Alexandriia the library in the Museum 
was destroyed by fire at the time of Csesar's expedition;, 
the one in the Serapeum, still very valuable in the fourth 
century, was pillaged in 391 by the Christians in arms 
against the pagans. In Rome at tliis epoch there were 
not less than twenty-eight public libraries. Seven scribes 
W'Cre employed in the one at Constantinople in copying 
ancient works. Several large cities of the West had 
libraries also; that of Treves was celebrated. This legacy 
from the past was not to reach modern times intact. As 
we have only the ruins of the ancient monuments, so we 
have nothing except detached fragments of this literature. 
By the middle of the fourth century Christianity began 
to take cognizance of this inheritance. It had been much 
depleted, and was to be more so by Christianity, although 
some portions of the wreck were saved. 



THE SECULAR CLSmT. . 15 

24. Christianity. Organisation of the Catholic Church. 
— From the time of Constantine Christianity was the 
state religion, and soon became the only official religion. 
The Church governed herself, under the control of the 
emperor, her undisputed chief. A bishop was at the 
head of each important community. In the fifth cen- 
tury a bishop may be reckoned for each city (civitas). 
The one who lived in the capital city, or metropolis of the 
province, assumed the title of metropolitan or archbishop. 
The bishop was elected by the clergy and people; the 
election was confirmed by the metropolitan and the other 
bishops of the province. He administered his diocese 
according to the counsels of the priests who lived with 
him, and in joint action with either the archpriest who 
aided him in the accomplishment of his spiritual duties, 
or the archdeacon. 

25. The Secular Clergy. — The priests were named by 
the bishop, who conferred the minor orders, corresponding 
to the functions of exorcist, porter, acolyte, reader, and 
assistant deacon, and the major orders. The clergy were 
supported by voluntary offerings and the fast increasing 
revenues accruing to the Church. In the West, from the 
fourth century on, celibacy was enjoined on the bishops 
and priests officiating at the altar. Wliile with the 
pagans the temple was solely the home of the god, and 
religious worship was always celebrated outside of it, with 
the Christians religious life was centred in the church. 
At least once on Sunday mass was said at the altar, which 
was placed over the tomb of some martyr and contained 
relics. 

The churches recalled by their primitive forms the 
chapels in the catacombs or the judicial basilicas of the 
Komans. They enjoyed some precious immunities; like 
pagan temples, they had the right of sanctuary. 



16 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

26. The Regular Cler^. The Monks.— There grew up 
by the side of the secular clergy, which was already dis- 
tinct from the mass of the faithful, although living with 
them in the sceculum, that is, the world (hence secular 
clergy), a strange population of ascetics, cenobites, ancho- 
rites, and monks. They lived far from the world, alone 
or in communities; poor, because they despised riches, 
torturing the body, which they considered the source of 
all sin, solely occupied in prayer and meditation. Monas- 
ticism penetrated the West from the East. In 360 Saint 
Martin established the first monastery of Gaul at Liguge, 
and twelve years later one at Marmontiers, which became 
a nursery of bishops; in 401 Saint Honorat founded the 
celebrated abbey of Lerins. About the same epoch Saint 
Augustine introduced monasticism into Africa. In the 
fifth century there were monks everywhere. Sometimes 
ill-treated, more often honoured, they were the fiery 
propagators of the Christian faith throughout the land. 
Their order assumed more and more definite form. They 
were given statutes or rules; Saint Basil's, for example, in 
the East, Cassian's and Saint Benedict's of Nursia in the 
West. So, although the monks were not yet, as a rule, 
learned men, there grew up, little by little, a regular 
clergy alongside of the secular clergy. 

27. The Christian and the Citizen. — A new society was 
therefore formed and contrasted with the old one. The 
ideas which the two stood for were very different. In the 
one the chief thing was the citizen— the state was organ- 
ised to assure him the full exercise of his rights; in the 
other, it was the man corrupted by original sin, inces- 
santly led astray by the Evil Spirit, the Devil, the 
Enemy, later so called. Man had to be regenerated 
through baptism and prepared during this life for the 
life eternal. 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND HERESIES. 17 

Christianity arose after the disappearance of the free 
citizen. Its interests were centred in the City of God. 
It preached to man love for his neighbour, indif- 
ference to worldly goods and submission to the law of 
the land, in so far as the law did not interfere with 
dogma or conscience. Hence the slaves, the poor, all the 
disinherited of the ancient city founded on privileges 
sought comfort in its teachings. The Church was there- 
fore separated from the state, and soon aspired to its 
control. 

28. The Councils and the Pope. — The general or 
ecumenical councils were assemblies of bishops, and 
later of heads of monasteries or abbots also. They were 
convoked to decide upon points of the creed. The doc- 
tors of the Church advised the separate churches to unite 
in one Church, catholic and universal; some among their 
number already thought that the bishop at Eome, suc- 
cessor to Saint Peter, should be primate, that is, Pope. 
From the fifth century on he was recognised as having a 
right to decide appeals from all the churches, and so a 
supreme jurisdiction. 

29. The Christian Church and Heresies. — The religion 
of Christ, having finally conquered paganism, determined 
to destroy the last traces of it. On the 27th of February, 
391, a formal edict forbade all rites of worship of the 
heathen gods; the temples were destroyed, or sometimes 
adapted to the celebration of the new religion. The 
Church had also to struggle with peculiar doctrines or 
heresies resulting from the speculations and teachings of 
philosophers and theologians, and from the latent influ- 
ence of the old religions. The popes assumed to be the 
champions of the true doctrine or orthodoxy, and at- 
tempted in the councils to define the obscure points of 
dogma and the rules of ecclesiastical discipline, and to 



18 TEE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

condemn and punish the believers in heretical doctrines?. 
Among the most persistent and troublesome heresies was 
Arianism, or the doctrine of Arius, who denied the dogma 
of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. Several em- 
perors favoured it, and through the influence of the 
apostle of the Goths, Ulfilas, it was embraced by almosi 
all the Germanic people settled within the Empire. Re- 
ligious quarrels may be added to the other causes which 
tended to enfeeble the Eoman state. 

30. The Conditions of Persons. — There were also im- 
portant changes in the condition of persons and lands. 
On the lowest rung of the social ladder slavery still ex- 
isted, in spite of pagan philosophy and Christianity. But 
the master had no longer right of life and death over his 
slave; he might sell him, provided he did not separate 
him from his family; from the time of Constantine he 
could free him by a simple declaration to that effect made 
in the church in the presence of the bishop and congre- 
gation. The plebs comprised several classes. In the 
country the coloni were free personally, but attached to 
the land which they tilled as tenants of the proprietor; 
in the towns the artisans were for the most part organ- 
ised in corporations. There were many corporations in 
Gaul, such as that of the mariners of the Seine. The 
class of merchants and smaller proprietors was constantly 
decreasing in number. The curials, a higher class, 
formed a kind of municipal nobility; but the actual 
nobility was restricted to the senatorial order, made up of 
those who sat in the Senate at Rome, all the high func- 
tionaries, and some others. The members of this nobility; 
bore the title of clarissimi; the ministers, like the mem- 
bers of the imperial family, were called, in addition, 
illustres. Those whom the emperor wished to honour sig- 
nally were titled patricians. In the fourth century the 



COIfDITION OF LANDS. 19 

^itle of count was usually associated with judicial and ad- 
ministrative functions. 

31. Classes and Privileges. — The rights of individuals 
varied according to the class in which they belonged. 
Pagans, Jews, and heretics were excluded, in the fifth 
century, from all public offices, jus honorum. Justice 
was not equally distributed. Nobles were exempt from 
personal chastisement and torture; trials of clarissimi, 
soldiers, and clerg}^ were held before special tribunals, 
and the mass of office holders were relieved of certain 
compulsory labours and payments. The social status was 
almost hereditary; nobility was transmitted from father 
to son; the artisan was perpetually bound to his guild; 
the colonus, sold with the land which he cultivated, was a 
serf to all eternity. The freemen of the Empire who 
did not possess the rights of citizenship were mostly bar- 
barians, living in the interior or on the frontier (Iceti). 
They retained their national customs, but were liable to 
military service; marriage between Eomans and bar- 
barians was forbidden. 

32. Condition of Lands. The Roman Villa. — Wealth 
was the stamp and moving power of the aristocracy, and 
consisted chiefly of land. In fact, industry was considered 
debasing, trade was disdained, and business enterprises 
were forbidden to Senators. The latter must have at 
least a third of their fortunes invested in lands. The 
aristocrats had therefore extended domains {villce), com- 
prising their dwellings, farm buildings, and slave quarters, 
built in the midst of fields marked off by sacred boundary 
lines. As a rule they disliked the proximity and compe- 
tition of smaller proprietors. Members of the Municipal 
Senate, they apportioned the taxes as they saw fit, and 
overburdened the smaller farmers, or even exempted 
themselves, from taxation. The smaller land owners once 



20 THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 

ruined had no resource except to ask the " patronage '* 
of their powerful neighbours. The latter would appro- 
priate a part of their over-taxed land and leave them a life 
interest in the remainder. From freemen they became 
coloni, and when the new proprietors were also high func- 
tionaries of the state the dependence of this new kind of 
" clients " became more strict; they became almost sub- 
jects. The dwellings of these magnates gradually as- 
sumed the character and aspect of fortresses; the owners 
punished and judged their coloni, freedmen, and slaves; 
they protected them or else used them as soldiers, and 
with their aid repulsed the barbarians. Thus organised, 
the villa was already becoming a seignory. 

33. Forests.— Beyond the cultivated fields, especially 
far from the towns, there were doubtless many waste 
lands and vast forests. In troublous times these served 
as places of refuge for fugitive slaves and coloni. In 
many localities they replaced the villages which had been 
destroyed by invasions. Later on the monks cleared and 
cultivated them. 

Snminary. — The Eoman world seemed well ruled, but 
however skilfully organised it might have been, it was 
falling asunder. The Empire was not a unit. The prov- 
inces, although sincerely attached to the imperial regime, 
had little interest in its continuance; two languages were 
spoken in the East and West; two religions claimed man's 
conscience. Imperial despotism had stifled all initiative 
in men who had lost political rights and were immovably 
bound to their offices, their trades, or their lands. The 
state had no equilibrium. One hundred years of bar- 
barian invasions sufficed to destroy it. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE BARBARIANS.* 

In the first rank of the invaders of the Empire stood 
those whom Rome called the Germans. 

1. Customs and Personal Appearance of the Germans. — 

According to Caesar, and Tacitus, who wrote a century and 
a half later, the Germans were tall and fair; they had blue 
eyes and a fierce glance. Their training was severe. 
They bore arms at an early age, and from that time on 
never laid them aside, for they were buried with them. 
Cruel in war, they were hospitable among themselves, and 
respected their sworn faith; but they were proud and 
would neither obey nor pay tribute. 

2. Condition of Persons. — There were several orders of 
rank among the Germans. 

(1) The Nobles. The origin of the Germanic nobility 
is obscure, but its existence in the time of Tacitus is cer- 
tain. At first it seems to have been the favoured posi- 
tion of several illustrious families which claimed a divine 
origin. It was hereditary, and carried with it various 

* Sources. — Caesar. "Gallic War"; Tacitus, "Germania"; Am- 
mianus Marcelliuus, " Rerum Gestarum," libri xxxi. In the bar- 
barian codes, like the •' Salic law," are to be found many indications 
of the social condition of ancient Germany. 

Literature. — G. Waitz, "Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte," 
vol. i. On the bibliography of German history reference should be 
made to Dahlmann- Waitz, " Quellenkunde der deutschen Ge- 
schichte," sixth edition by Steindorff, 1894. On the bibliography of 
this chapter see Gross, " Sources and Literature of English- History," 
pp. 171-173. 

21 



22 THE BARBARIANS. 

privileges. The life of the nobles was considered more 
precious than that of simple freemen; they usually pos- 
sessed more land; marriage with persons of another class 
was sometimes forbidden. The number of noble families 
does not seem to have been great; it was much reduced 
in Tacitus's time, and in some tribes nobility had even 
disappeared. 

(2) Tlie Freemen. Although distinguished from free- 
men^ the nobles were not a separate caste. The H'o 
orders composed the people and the army, and they exer- 
cised together supreme authority in the assembly of the 
countr}'. The quality of freeman was expressed in the 
right to bear arms and exercise personal vengeance. 
Each freeman had his share of the tribal lands, and the 
idea was early formed that the possession of lands was 
necessary to full liberty. 

(3) The Non-freemen. The Germans had freedmen and 
slaves. As at Rome, slaves were treated as chattels, not 
persons; they could not bear arms, and were any found in 
their possession they were broken over their backs. They 
might have a dwelling of their own, however, on condition 
of paying the master a rent in wheat, flocks, or clothing; 
in this way they resembled the Roman colonus. The 
slaves were either prisoners of war, or criminals con- 
demned to loss of liberty, or wretched creatures who had 
lost it through gaming. The master could free them, but 
a freedman (libertus, letus) held a subordinate position. 
He could not marry a free woman; he took no part in the 
affairs of state; and full liberty was only granted to mem- 
bers of the tliird generation. 

3. The Germanic Family. — Individuals were grouped in 
families. Marriage, that is to say, the legitimate unioa 
of man and woman, constituted the family. Marriage 
was contracted in the presence of parents and relatives 



THE FAMILY IN THE STATE. 23 

under the symbol of a purchase; the husband bought, in 
fact, the right of possession and guardianship over his 
wife; the price was paid to the parents. The principle of 
dowry was not known to the Germans, but the wife gave 
presents to her husband, usually weapons. Tacitus 
writes: ^' The auspices at her wedding warned her that she 
should share in work and danger, and that the law, in 
peace and in combat, was to suffer and dare as much as 
her husband.'' On the other hand, it was not rare for the 
husband to make a gift to his wife the day after the wed- 
ding, the Morgengaie, which later became obligatory. 

4. The Authority of the Head of the Family. The In- 
heritance. — A simple freeman must content himself with 
one wife. Polygamy was allowed to the nobles only. In 
certain tribes a widow could not marry again; " the 
woman has one husband as she has one body, one life, so 
that she may love her marriage and not her husband." * 
The husband might put away his faithless wife; divorce 
was rare, but permitted. The father cf a family had ex- 
tended rights over his wife, whom he might sell in case of 
necessity: over his children, whom he might abandon; and 
over his freedmen and slaves. This authority did not 
extend over the son who was of age, or the married daugh- 
ter. When the father grew old he no longer counted as 
an active member of society, but was replaced by his son. 
The Germans made no wills; the nearest blood relatives 
inherited full rights; women could not inherit land, but 
their masculine relatives could. Bo3^s were therefore bet- 
ter provided for than girls, but in other ways the two 
sexes were equal. There is no certain trace of the right 
of primogeniture. 

5. The Family in the State. — The family was not only 

* The quotations of this chapter are from Tacitus's *• Germania."— ^ 



24 THE BARBARIANS. 

a private association; it had its place and its part in the 
state. It was a fundamental principle among the Ger- 
mans that every free man had the right to exact respect 
forcibly for his liberty, person, and property. If he were 
restrained in the exercise of his rights, injured in his 
property or person, he might avenge himself, arms in 
hand; his family was then expected to help him. The 
family received the fine paid for murder, or helped to pay 
it. In a lawsuit the relatives appeared before the judges 
to swear to the honour of the defendant and strengthen 
his oath with their own (cojuratores). Lastly the family 
was the constituent element of the army. The warriors 
were grouped by families into squadrons of cavalry or 
triangular battalions of infantry. 

6. The Tribe and its Subdivisions. — A certain number 
of families living on the same territory comprised a vil- 
lage {Dorf, vicus). The territory occupied by the mem- 
bers of a same tribe is designated in Tacitus by the term 
civitas, and the civitas was divided into pagi (or cantons), 
which were made up of several vici. It is possible that 
originally these pagi were formed by the union of one 
hundred families; whence the name (" hundred" liunderU 
schaft, centena)y which we find later used among various 
Germanic peoples to designate a territorial district of 
small extent. When the tribes were grouped into con- 
federations and kingdoms, the term pagus (in German. 
gmi) was applied to the former civitates. 

7. The Popular Assemblies. — Each of these groups had 
its own assembly. That of the vici controlled local affairs 
in particular; that of the pagi, judicial matters. The 
assembly of the civitas possessed supreme authority; it 
promulgated the laws, formed alliances, made peace and 
war, administered criminal justice, ratified enfranchise- 
ments and declarations of majority, and decreed the out- 



THE CHIEFS OF THE PEOPLE. 25 

lawing of individuals. It was variously named ding or 
thing among the Scandinavians; gemot among the Saxons, 
mall among the Franks. It was composed of all freemen 
who had attained their majority who were capable of 
bearing arms, and who were not excluded because of pub- 
lic crimes. Unless some sudden unforeseen event called 
them together, they met on fixed days, " when the moon 
was new or at the full; they believed that affairs could 
not be discussed under a more fortunate influence." The 
meeting was held on a hill, in a clearing, or near some 
locality consecrated to the gods. 

To assert their personal independence the Germans 
took their time in gathering together: " instead of meet- 
ing at once, as if obeying an order, they lost two or three 
days in assembling. When the meeting seemed large 
enough they opened it, all bearing arms. The priests 
who maintained order commanded silence." The spokes- 
man stood in the centre. The king, or the one among 
the chiefs the most noted for his nobility, exploits, age, 
or eloquence, presided. The freemen, seated around, ex- 
pressed disapproval by cries, or approval by waving their 
lances. " This suffrage of arms was the most honourable 
expression of assent.'*' At stated periods of the year the 
assembly had unusual import, as when celebrating re- 
ligious ceremonies or presenting annual gifts to the king. 
But if a tribe comprised several districts, it is probable 
that the gathering of all its members was not as frequent; 
later when tribes were united and became nations, the 
meetings grew rarer and rarer, and finally disappeared 
completely. 

8. The Chiefs of the People : Kins^ and Dukes. — Kings, 
dukes, and princes were the tribal leaders. Originally 
the most of Germanic peoples had no kings, but royalty 
spread little by little. In many cases it was instituted 



26 THE BARBARIANS. 

when the tribes of one same people united under a com- 
mon authority. The Salian Franks, on the contrary, 
irho formed but one people, had several kings. The office 
was elective, but the people rarely chose a king outside 
of a privileged family, assumed to be of divine origin. 

The usurpation of the crown was of rare occurrence, 
but it was not unusual for a dissatisfied people to dismiss 
their king. The newly elected king was presented to his 
subjects, raised on a shield, which was borne on the 
shoulders of the warriors. The king shared with the 
priests in the celebration of the worship of the gods. He 
was acknowledged the supreme judge of his people. Pub- 
lic peace was under his protection. He received and de- 
spatched ambassadors; he concluded alliances and treaties, 
subject to the assent of the people; in war time he led the 
army, unless superseded by elected chiefs. Among cer- 
tain peoples, the Bavarians, for instance, who never had 
kings, hereditary dukes commanded; but the term duke 
signified ordinarily a military leader chosen by the war- 
riors on the eve of an expedition. " Kings were chosen 
because of their birth, dukes because of their valour." 
These chiefs controlled through personal influence rather 
than through formal orders; the priests only, even in the 
army, had the right to inflict severe punishment. 

9. The " Principes." — The important role in the ad- 
ministration of the tribe or pagus belonged to those whom 
Tacitus designated principes. The term, taken in its 
general sense, applied to the richest and most powerful 
warriors. These, united in an assembW, decided on the 
current affairs of the tribe; the weighty decisions, after 
being discussed by the principes, were voted on by the gen- 
eral assembly of the civiias. This assembly selected a 
princeps to govern the tribe as princeps civitatis, where 
there was no king; and it assigned a stated number of 



JUSTICE. 27 

principes, accompanied by one hundred assessors, to ad- 
minister justice in the pagi. In the assembly of the 
people the principes proposed resolutions; in religious 
ceremonies they represented the people or the state. In 
war they commanded the soldiers from the pagus or the 
civitas, but subject to the ducal authority. In order to 
maintain their rank thev received from freemen volun- 
tary offerings, produce of the soil, flocks, etc.; in short, 
they were surrounded by companions who assured them 
honour in peace and protection in war. 

10. The Comitatus. — The right to have a following of 
companions {comitatus) belonged also to dukes and kings. 
There was nothing servile in figuring among the com- 
panions, who were often 3'oung men of the best families. 
*' Illustrious birth or the brilliant deeds of their fathers 
recommended even very young men for the service of the 
pHnceps; admitted to his companionship, they became 
the associates of more powerful young men who had al- 
ready proved their ability." There might be also men of 
inferior condition along with these sons of illustrioua 
families. The engagement was voluntary; though it was 
of a lasting character, it might be dissolved; it was sealed 
by a vow of obedience and fidelity. The companions lived 
with the prince, in his house, at his table. Certain ones 
controlled the domestic affairs of the house, such as the 
stable and the kitchen. The prince instituted a ranking 
system, and hence stimulated them to perform good 
service. The companions were not numerous, and it is 
only by a faint analogy that one can compare this com- 
itatus relationship to vassalage. It soon disappeared en- 
tirely, and left traces only in the courts of the kings. 

11. Justice. The Right of Personal Vengeance. — 
Kings and princes defended the public peace, " a gift of 
the gods "; but besides public justice was private justice. 



28 THE BARBARIANS. 

which was exercised by the family. The injured indi- 
vidual could wreak his vengeance, and call in his family to 
aid him; his adversary might do the same. The Corsi- 
cans have to-day like customs. Enmities were not ir- 
reconcilable. Vengeance might be compounded for in 
money, the sum being determined according to the wer- 
geld, or the value of the individual in the eyes of the law. 
If adversaries preferred to appeal to the courts, the quar- 
rel was laid before the assembly of the pagus or the 
civitas where the prince or king presided. The assessors 
of the prince and the members of the assembly were arbi- 
trators rather than judges; their work was less that of 
punishing the crime than of reconciling the belligerents. 
Proof was made by the plaintiff's oath, whose good faith 
was supported by the oath of friends, or by the duel, or by 
various tests, called ordeals — in which God was supposed 
to denounce the culprit. The sentence, which was pro- 
nounced, not by the king or prince, but by all the mem- 
bers of the assembly, was final. Punishments varied ac- 
cording to the nature of the crime. Traitors and de- 
serters were hanged; cowards were buried in a slough or 
drowned under a hurdle. In all cases the judges fixed 
the payment according to the nature of the crime and the 
rank of the victim; it was made in horses or cattle; the 
offender had to pay besides to the state the fredum, or 
peace money. Should the condemned man fail in pay- 
ment, he lost the benefits of public protection, and was 
liable to be killed by anyone; that is, he was outlawed. 

12. Military Service. The Army.—" No German," says 
Tacitus, " may bear arms until the civitas has recognised 
him as capable of so doing. Then one of the princes, or 
the young man's father, or one of his relatives, equips 
him, in the midst of the assembly, with shield and 
javelin." Henceforth he became a part of the army. In 



THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF GERM ANT. 29 

battle each corps was arranged in the form of a triangle, 
and was joined to the other corps in such a way as to 
form a triangle or general " corner." The entire army 
was led by one chief, duke, or king; at times there were 
two; yet the army might express its will. There was 
little discipline; the priests judged offenders. Tactics 
were rarely used; each body charged as seemed fit, but 
with great impetuosity. The leaders inspired others by 
their own example. " On the field of battle it was shame- 
ful for the prince to be outdone in courage, shameful for 
the band of companions to be unequal in courage to 
their prince. But one shame which could never be 
effaced was to survive him and return alone from the 
combat.'^ 

13. The Weapons. — The arms varied according to the 
peoples. There was the sword, either the large iron or 
bronze sword of the Saxons and Cherusci, or the long 
knife, like the scramasaxus; the framea,^ a weapon with a 
long head and staff, a kind of javelin peculiar to the Ger- 
mans; the axe, or among the Franks, the frwicisa; the 
bow, the javelin, etc. The somewhat short lance was a 
cavalary weapon. The shield was ornamented with colours 
and emblems. The helmet was for a long time rarely 
found. The art of besieging was but slightly developed, 
although engines of war were not unknown. The Ger- 
mans had some fortified places, but they preferred to 
fight in the open country, to assume the offensive rather 
than the defensive. 

14. The Economic Condition of Germany. Property 
and Agricultural Riches. — The Germans were not no- 
madic, although loving combats and distant expeditions. 
They had fixed habitations; each house was enclosed and 
separated from the neighbouring ones. They raised 
many flocks and herds, which constituted their riches and. 



30 THE BARBARIANS. 

so to say, their currency; they cultivated also fields of 
cereals. These fields, in the time of Caesar and Tacitus, 
did not actually belong to individuals. They seem to 
have been allotted to each village according to the number 
of labourers, then subdivided among the latter according 
to rank. Every year there was a reapportionment. The 
uncultivated lands were doubtless used for pasturage. 
Thus the German was owner of his house and enclosure 
and of the furnishings and implements therein. Hence 
individual property was recognised, but it was a long time 
before land became the mark and source of wealth. 
There were few towns and highways, but immense forests, 
and hence little or no industry or commerce. 

15. Religion. The Gods. — Eeligion was that of the 
primitive peoples of the Indo-European race. The Ger- 
mans worshipped the deified forces of nature. The three 
great gods which Tacitus calls Mercury, Mars, and 
Hercules were AYodan or Odin, Donar or Thor, Tyr or 
Zui. Odin was the sun, the mind of nature, which pene- 
trates all, the powerful breath which roars in the tempest, 
w^hich bursts forth in anger and passion, the god of com- 
bat and victory. He is represented wrapped in full blue 
mantle, bearing sword and lance, mounted on a steed with 
a golden mane, like the rays of the sun. At times he 
would dress in rags and come to earth to see if hospitality 
were always practised. He journeyed also through the 
sky; the Milky Way was the path of his army or wild 
chase; his chariot was the Great Bear. As the god of 
mind, he had discovered the runes, or letters of the 
alphabet, written on bits of wood, especially the beech 
{Buchstaben), by means of which the priests and nobles 
could question fate and divine the future; besides this he 
was the god of poetry and eloquence. Thor, or the thun- 
der, was beneficial to man. With his hammer, the symbol 



THE HEROES AND IMMORTALITY, 31 

of the thunderbolt, he would cleave the rocks and fer- 
tilise the land. He was the god of agriculture, of mar- 
riage, of property, of commerce. His beard was red like 
the lightning, and animals with red fur, such as the 
squirrel and the fox, were sacred to him. All the other 
gods rode on horseback; he alone walked. Ziu, or the 
" brilliant," was both the god of the sky and of war; he 
commanded the winds and the tempests; he was armed 
with a sword. Besides these gods, Tacitus names Isis 
and the goddess Nertlius, Hertha, the goddess of earth 
who brought forth Freya, goddess of fecundity, joy^ 
and abundance; and Tuisco, father of Mann (man), 
who was the ancestor of the race of Teutsclie, or 
Germans. 

16. The Heroes and Immortality. — These legends were 
kept in the memory and handed down in the form of epic 
song, which celebrated the exploits of gods, kings, and 
heroes. They tell especially of Woden, the supreme god^ 
preeminently the god of war; in him was incarnate the 
'^ furor teutonicus "; he had taught men the art of fight- 
ing, and fought himself. Those who fell in battle, or who 
died of their wounds, were admitted to the sky, the home 
of the elect (wahl-halle); there dwelt the Valkyriae and 
Frigga, the wife of Woden, who received the heroes and 
offered them the drinking horn. The shades here passed 
their days in war and their nights in feasting, and the 
German wished no worthier reward for his valour. But 
these gods were no more immortal than the world created 
by them. They might be corrupted, like men, by evil 
ways, and would be condemned and perish with the world. 
But as day succeeds the night, they would be born again, 
purified, and live forever. The elements of these primi- 
tive epics are found, mingled with old Christian tradi- 
tions, in the Eddas, which are collections of Scandi- 



32 THE BARBARIANS. 

navian traditions written in Iceland from the eleventh to 
the thirteenth centuries. 

17. The Priests. Worship.— In Tacitus's time this re- 
ligion of nature and morals had scarcely begun to own 
temples. The priests performed the sacrifices. They: 
sought to know the will of the gods by means of different 
signs; the flight of birds, the neighing of sacred horses, 
the combination of runes. They also maintained order 
in the army and the assembly, for peace and law were 
divine gifts. They enjoyed great moral authority, with- 
out, however, being a caste apart from the remainder of 
the people. 

18. Conclusion. — Such were, briefly stated, the Ger- 
manic institutions, as far as they can be traced in Caesar 
and Tacitus. The state of perpetual war in which these 
peoples lived from the end of the second century, modi- 
fied, without effacing, many essential traits. The Ger- 
mans took with them to Roman soil their taste for inde- 
pendence; the desire to be as little governed as possible; 
a social organisation wherein the power of the state was 
weak and the personal ties between man and man were 
strong. The Germans were both warlike and agri- 
cultural; equally suited to a military or a sedentary life; 
eager for riches and honours. They greatly modified Ro- 
man society, which they penetrated in all its parts, and 
were in turn transformed under its influence. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE • GERMANIC INVASIONS THE VANDALS, THE VISI- 
GOTHS, AND THE HUNS (376-476).* 

1. The Romans in Germany. — ISTo sudden invasion cast 
the barbarian peoples of Germany on the provinces of 
the Empire at the end of the fourth century. One has 
only to recall the long exodus of the Cimbri and the Teu- 
tones, the destruction of the Suevi by Caesar, the struggles 
of Drusus, of Germanicus, and of Tiberius against the 
Chatti, Cherusci, and the Marcomanni. At first the Ro- 
mans had the advantage. The legions crossed the 
natural limits even of the Empire, and to control better 

* Sources. — Eiisebius of Caesarea, " Historia ecclesiastica "; trans- 
lated into Latin and continued by Rutinus of Aquileia; edition 
Heinichen (1868), The " Chrouograpliy " of tlie same author; book 
i. has been kept in an Armenian transhition, published by Mai (1833); 
book ii. in a Latin translation by Saint Jerome, who continued the 
work; edition Schoene (1866). It was still further carried on by 
Count Marcellinus, by Bishop Idatius, by Prosper, etc. Paul Orosius: 
" Historiarum, libri vii. adversus paganos"; edition Zangemeister 
(1882). Ammianus Maj'cellinus : " Rerum gestarum," libri xxxi. ; 
edition Gardtliausen (1874). Jordanis: " De Getarum origine et rebus 
gestis"; edition Th. Mommsen in the " Monumenta Germaniae His" 
torica." Claudian: "De bello getico; de consulatu Stilichonis," 
etc.; edition Jeep (1876). Works of Sidonius Apollinaris; edition 
Baret (1879); Ennodius; edition Hartel (1882). 

Literature. — Hodgkin, "Italy and Her Invaders," 8 vols.; 
Bury, " The Later Roman Empire," 2 vols.; Gibbon, " Decline and 
Fall of the Roman Empire," edited by Bury, 7 vols.; Gwatkin, 
"Arianism"; Fustel de Coulanges, " L'Invasion Germauique " 
(1891). 

33 



34 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

the peoples whom they could not conquer they built an 
extended line of entrenchments. This was the limes 
romanus, or Ffalilgrahen, doubtless begun by Domitian, 
continued by Trajan, and completed by Hadrian. It ex- 
tended from the confluence of the Lippe with the Ehine 
to the confluence of the Altmiihl with the Danube, and 
protected a vast territory called by the Eomans tithe 
lands (decumates). This country became rapidly pros- 
perous: it was dotted with rich villas and opulent towns; 
it adopted entirely the language and the arts of Eome. 
Eoman influence penetrated beyond this strategic and 
administrative frontier, and would doubtless have ended 
by civilising the whole of Germany if fresh invasions had 
not swept away everything. 

2. The Germans in the Empire. — The Germans, on their 
side, profiting by these almost peaceful conditions, pene- 
trated the Empire as coloni and soldiers. Some embraced 
agriculture of their own free will; others were driven 
like herds into the provinces after each great victory 
and compelled to repeople the places laid waste by war; 
still others enjoyed the peace of the Eomans under the 
condition of obeying the orders of the governors, paying 
taxes, and furnishing soldiers. The latter formed special 
bodies, called fwderati, or Uti. They were often recruited 
in their own country and conunanded by native chiefs. 
They were like colonies of barbarians in the Empire, with 
their own religion, language, and customs, in the same way 
as formerly colonies of Eoman citizens had settled in the 
midst of conquered peoples. This slow infiltration of the 
Germans into the Empire was previous to the great in- 
vasions, and uninterrupted by them; but it left deeper 
traces than the latter, for the invaders passed away and 
the coloni remained. 

3. Beginning of the Great Invasions.— The causes of 



GERMANY IN TEE FOURTH CENTURY. 35 

the great invasions are obscure, but their effects were dis- 
astrous. The Slavs, urged forward by the Mongols, set 
the Goths in movement, who from lower Germany, where 
thev were in Tacitus's time, reached in the second cen- 
tury the borders of the Black Sea. This great tide of 
emigrants roused up other Germanic peoples not yet 
rooted to the soil. Then the Romans, who for one hun- 
dred and fifty years had always assumed the offensive, 
were attacked in their turn. The Marcomanni and the 
Quadi crossed the Danube in 162; this was the opening of 
the great invasions. In the third century, especially dur- 
ing the epoch of military anarchy and the thirty tyrants, 
the limes romanus was destroyed, the tithe lands were 
wasted, the frontiers pushed back to the Rhine and the 
Danube, which were no longer a sufficient barrier against 
an ever-renewed enemy. 

4. G-ermany in the Fourth Century. — Germany now 
changed her aspect. Instead of the former tribes, which 
had only been able to form temporary leagues in the time 
of Marbod and Arminius, were now nations with their 
kings who marched to the assault of an empire. Along 
the Rhine lay first the Franks, divided into Ripuarian 
Pranks near Cologne, and Salian, on the island of the 
Batavi and in Toxandria (Zeland, Holland, and Dutch 
Brabant); then the Alemanni in the valley of the Neckar 
and the upper courses of the Danube and the Rhine as 
far as Lake Constance; lastl}^, the Burgundians, between 
the Rhine and the Neckar. On the left bank of the 
Danube were the Vandals, who migrated from the Baltic; 
then to the east the former Marcomanni and the Quadi, 
the Bavarians, the Longobards or Lombards, on the lower 
Danube and the Carpathians, and last the Goths. In the 
interior and on the north the Angles extended as far as 
the Cimbric peninsula; the Frisians were spread from 



36 TUE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

the mouths of the Weser and the Elbe to the Rhine delta; 
the Saxons occupied all the territory between the Lippe 
and the Ems as far up as the Elbe and the Saale; they 
were enemies of years' standing of their neighbours on the 
West, the Franks. The Goths set in motion the great 
migration of peoples, which began in 375 with the eastern 
Germans, and out of which arose modern Europe. 

5. The Gothic Empire. TJlfilas. — The Goths were es- 
tablished on the shores of the Black Sea, from the Danube 
to the Don; the Dniester separated them into two large 
states; on the east the Ostrogoths^ on the west the Visi- 
gotJis. The Ostrogoths were at first clients of Rome, 
who paid them an annual tribute to defend on their side 
the frontier of the Empire. Their kings of the noble 
house of the Amals subdued the Gepidse, the Visigoths, 
the Heruli, kindred races who were soon to follow them 
across Europe. One among them, Hermanric, 350-374, 
extended his power so far that he could boast of having 
conquered " all Germany and Scythia." At the same 
time Christianity penetrated the land. A Gothic bishop 
had already sat in the Mcene Council (325). About this 
time was born (between 311 and 318) among the Visigoths 
of the Danube the man who was to become the apostle, 
the Moses, of the Goths, TJlfilas, or Wulfila. Conse- 
crated bishop about 341, he converted his compatriots, 
and to forward his teachings he translated into Gothic 
the text of the Holy Scriptures. A part only of this 
translation remains. It is an im.portant document for 
the history of the Germanic languages and literature; it is 
also to the initiated a precious mine of information re- 
garding the institutions of the Gothic people. But 
TJlfilas was an Arian, and the spread of Arianism among 
the Goths led to serious consequences for the future of 
these peoples. 



VI&IGOTHS IN ROMAN TERRITORY, 376. 37 

6. The Huns Destroy the Gothic Empire. — One of the 
nations subdued by the Ostrogoths, the Roxelani, having 
been harshly treated by Hermanric, called in to aid them 
the Huns, a Finnish race which lived on the two slopes 
of the Ural and in the valley of the Volga. They were 
nomads and hunters; their customs were brutal and they 
had no religion; their dominant passion was love of gold. 
For the Goths these creatures with terrifying faces were 
scarcely men. They thought them the offspring of impure 
spirits and witches who, wandering over the steppes of 
Scythia, gave birth to them in the " marshes, small, frail 
frightful beings, having nothing human but the faculty 
of speech." Led by their chief, or Khan Balamir, the 
Huns descended on the Ostrogoths. Hermanric, en- 
feebled by age (he was about one hundred and ten, it is 
said) and by recent wounds, was conquered. He killed 
himself to avoid surviving the disaster of his people. 
The Ostrogoths then submitted. They were obliged to 
furnish an annual tribute and military contingent, but 
allowed to keep their territory, while the people formerly 
subject to them recovered their independence. 

7. The Visigoths Admitted into Roman Territory, 376. 
— The Visigoths were the first of the great barbarian 
peoples who established themselves in the territory of the 
Empire. Some among them had already crossed the 
Danube, after successful wars against the Romans, and 
forced the emperor Valens to take them into his pay. 
They had already been baptised with their chief Friti- 
gern. The remainder, who were pagans, with their king, 
Athanaric, attempted to check the invading swarms of 
Huns, first behind the Dniester, then behind the Pruth; 
but overcome with terror, the mass of them fled, leaving 
their king to withdraw into Transylvania. About one 
million men, two hundred thousand fit to bear arms, went 



88 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

to join Fritigern, and after long deliberation were allowed 
to establish themselves in Mesia. 

8. Uprising of the Visigoths. Theodosius the Great. — 

These wretched emigrants were not long in revolting; 
they began to ravage Thrace. The emperor Yalens has- 
tened against theni^ but with insufficient forces^ and met 
them at HadrionojDle. There the two armies rushed upon 
each other like the collision of two ships. ^N'umbers 
gained the victory for the barbarians, and the Eomans, 
exhausted by a hot day full of fighting, fled in confusion; 
the emperor himself was slain (August 8, 378). Theo- 
dosius the Great stopped the conquerors, who even threat- 
ened Constantinople. He restored discipline in the 
legions and revived their confidence through successful 
battles. At the same time he cunningly sowed discord 
among the barbarians. The Visigoths thronged into the 
Eoman army, and xithanaric came to Constantinople as 
a friend and an ally. From that time on, during fifteen 
years, the barbarians remained faithful to the emperor; 
they helped him in 394 to triumph over a pretender, and 
when Theodosius died (January 18, 395), they mourned 
'' the friend of the Goths." 

9. Alaric. The Visigoths in Greece and in Ulyria. — 
Theodosius left two sons: Arcadius. then aged eiditeen, 
and Honorius, aged eleven. He had decided that both 
should be emperors, and that the elder should reign in the 
East, the younger in the West; the first counselled by 
Eufinus, the pretorian prefect, the second under the 
guardianship of the best general of the Empire, Flavius 
Stilico, son of a Vandal in the pay of the Empire, whom 
he recommended to watch over Arcadius as well. He 
hoped in this way to facilitate governing, without de- 
stroying Eoman unity; but the jealousy of the two 
brothers and the hatred of the two ministers reopened 



ALARIG IN ITALY, 402-403. 39 

ihe period of civil discord and barbarian invasions. In- 
deed, when the Visigoth mercenaries saw on the Byzan- 
tine throne an 'incapable }' oung man guided by a minister 
whom fanatacism, cruelties, and unheard-of luxuries made 
odious, they grew insolent again. One of their chiefs, 
Alaric, of the royal family of the Balti, aged about 
twenty-five, demanded an important military command. 
It was refused him, and he then invaded Macedonia and 
Thessaly. He passed Thermopyl^ unopposed, entered 
Athens as a visitor, though she paid dearly for her im- 
munity, pillaged the temple of Eleusis, whose hidden 
riches had been betrayed by the monks, forced the en- 
trance to the isthmus, and destroyed Corinth. Thou- 
sands of Greeks fled into Italy, imploring the help of the 
West against these strange auxiliaries of Arcadius. 
Stilico crossed the Adriatic in midwinter, drove before 
bim the hordes of Alaric, shut them up in the mountains 
to the north of Olympia, and waited in his trenches until 
famine should subdue the barbarians. However, the Eo- 
man soldiers, too confident of immediate success, were 
poor guards, and allowed Alaric to escape. Arcadius 
thought it would be an artful diplomatic move to give the 
fugitive king the government of Illyricum, a province 
which Honorius claimed for the Empire of the West. 
In that way he got rid of Alaric while attaching him to 
his service, and obliged Stilico to leave the East, which 
w^as pacified (396). 

10. Alaric in Italy, 402-403. — Alaric remained in 
Illyria four years. He made use of his time to distribute 
among his troops weapons from the important arsenals 
of the country. Placed on the confines of the two em- 
pires, he waited until fortune might show him whether 
to take the road to Byzantium or to Rome. He decided 
on Italy, since Stilico was occupied in Rhaetia. A victory 



4G THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

gained near Aquileia opened the doors of Italy to him; 
his light cavalry carried terror into Eome even. Stilico 
hastened back. After vainly trying to stop Alaric's 
course by an attack at Polenga near the confluence of the 
Tanaro and the Stura (March 19, 402), he finally gained a 
victory over him and obliged him to retire, but he again 
showed him the favour of admitting him with all his war- 
riors into the pay of the Western Empire. 

11. Stilico and the Emperor Honorius. — Stilico's vic- 
tory was celebrated at Eome with the greatest pomp. 
Honorius, consul for the sixth time, deigned to show him- 
self to the people of the capital. Splendid games were 
celebrated. While the pagan poet Claudian, the official 
singer of Stilico, applauded this rare sight, the Christian, 
poet Prudentius protested eloquently against the cruel 
custom of gladiatorial fights, which were never again 
held. The hero of these festivities, Stilico, was at the 
height of his power. He had married Serena, niece and 
adopted daughter of Theodosius; his oldest daughter, 

'Maria, was the wife of Honorius; he himself w^as a patri- 
cian, and had been raised to the consulship; his military 
successes led him to be considered the pillar of the state. 
He had, moreover, a cultivated mind and was a friend of 
letters; this Vandal's son affected an admiration for the 
ancient heroes of republican Rome. But his greatness 
brought him many enemies, and the one most to be feared 
w^as the emperor, who suffered his presence, but did not 
love him, and felt himself effaced and mortified before his 
genius. Learning that numberless barbarians were ap- 
preaching Italy, Honorius fled from the eternal city and 
took refuge behind the marshes and the walls of Eavenna, 
which became henceforth the true capital of the West. 

12. Stilico Victorious over Radagaisus, 405. — The 
new armed emigration, which aroused such cowardly 



STILTCO ASSASSINATED, 408. 41 

alarm, was doubtless caused by the progress of the Huns 
, down the valley of the Danube. It was made up of a 
confused mass of men, women, and children. There were 
said to be four hundred thousand of them, led by Kada- 
gaisus, a Goth by birth, and fierce pagan, who penetrated 
easily into Italy. Radagaisus had sworn to sacrifice to 
his gods all the Roman blood. Stilico, surprised, could 
not defend the passes of the Apennines, but after re- 
inforcing his army with barbarian contingents, he fol- 
lowed him, forced him to raise the siege of Florence and 
withdraw to the neighbouring heights of Fiesole. There 
he shut up the enemy by a series of entrenchments^ 
which he did not allow to be forced as in the Pelopon- 
nesus. Radagaisus, impelled by hunger, attempted to 
force his way through the Romans. He was taken, cast 
into prison, and decapitated shortly after. Those of his 
partisans who survived laid down their arms, and were 
sold into slavery. 

13. Stilioo Assassinated, 408. — Scarcely had Radagai- 
sus succumbed in Italy when Gaul was invaded by the 
Suevi, the Alani, and the Vandals, and ravaged from the 
Rhine to the Pyrenees. The legions of Brittany chose 
an emperor, Constantine, whom Gaul and Spain were not 
slow to recognise. These ominous events aroused the in- 
dignation of those who still dared to call themselves old 
Romans. They saw barbarism triumphant everywhere^ 
They accused the Vandal, Stilico, of favouring them. 
Forgetting his services to the state, they suspected him 
of wishing to raise to the imperial throne his own son in 
place of the pitiable Honorius. The Christians imputed 
to him the design of reestablishing paganism; the pagans, 
reproached him for his toleration of the Christian re- 
ligion; i\r^ Senate, revived by him, was jealous of his 
power. Therefore, on the death of Arcadius, when a 



42 TEE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

child of seven years Theodosius II. mounted to the 
throne of the East, Stilico thought he might go to Con- 
stantinople and assume an easier role. With this in view 
he allied himself with Alaric; by promising him four 
thousand pounds of gold and the prefecture of Illyria, he 
made sure of his neutrality, at least. " That is not a 
peace/' exclaimed Lampodius in the Senate, ^' it is a com- 
pact of servitude."' Honorius, deceived by the enemies 
of Stilico, authorised a plot against the life of his father- 
in-law, the saviour of Eome. Stilico, lured to Eavenna, 
w^as declared a traitor and public robber, then mas- 
sacred. Later his son suffered the same fate. His 
wife, who had sought refuge in Eome, was about to be 
strangled there by order of the Senate, when Alaric laid 
siege to the cit}^ An order was finally issued to kill all 
barbarians throughout Italy suspected of complicity 
with Stilico. Honorius decreed that henceforth all civil 
and military offices should be given exclusively to Chris- 
tians and Eomans. Such was the Empire's revenge on 
ihe barbarian; the barbarian was avenged by Alaric. 

14. Alaric Disposes of the Empire. Rome Taken, 410. 
— Alaric did in fact demand fulfilment of the treaty 
made with Stilico, and, as this was refused, he set out to 
invest Eome. Envoys from the Senate sought to intimi- 
date him. " The population is large," they said, " and 
determined on defence." "So much the better," an- 
swered the barbarian; " the thicker the hay the easier it 
is mowed." 

His conditions had to be accepted. The city promised 
to pay him five thousand pounds of gold, thirty thou- 
sand pounds of silver, four thousand silken tunics, three 
thousand fleeces dyed purple, and three thousand pounds 
of pepper. In order to pay the amount the Senate 
ordered tlie statues in the temples to be melted, and that 



DEATH OF ALARIC, 411 4S 

of Military Courage even was not spared! When the first 
payment was made Alaric withdrew into Etruria. 

The emperor, who had done nothing to prevent this- 
capitulation, refused to ratify it. Alaric then turned back: 
towards Rome, seized the port of Ostia, and forced the 
trembling Senate to proclaim emperor a certain Attains, 
a Greek and a wit. He overthrew him later, when 
Honorius signified his willingness to treat with Alaric 
But soon after, angered by the violation of the promises 
made him, he marched upon Eome for the third time. 
The city resisted valiantly, and was taken only by treason. 
During three days it was given up to pillage; Honorius's 
sister, the beautiful Galla Placidia, fell into the hands of 
the conqueror. 

15. Death of Alaric, 411. — Later historians have 
painted in darkest colours the destruction wreaked on 
Eome in these sad days. The contagion of terror was 
said to strike the king with superstitious fear, and he 
fled suddenly from the ruined city. In reality he sought 
other adventures; Campania and Lucania were ravaged. 
He gathered together a large fleet at Eeggio and pre- 
pared to conquer Sicily, and doubtless Africa, the two 
granaries of Eome; the fleet was scattered by a tempest 
in the strait of Messina. Alaric died shortly after in a 
small villa of Lucania, at Cosenza. Sickness and disap- 
pointment had overcome him. His warriors buried liim, 
with his weapons and a treasure, in the Busento, which 
was diverted from its course for that purpose. When 
the work was accomplished the slaves who had dug the 
grave were killed, when the river was turned back into its 
old channel. Thus died in the flower of life the ravisher 
of Eome, the first of the mighty barbarian chiefs who 
shook the Eoman Empire. 

Contemporaries, amazed at these tragic events, asked 



44 THE OERMANIG INVASIONS. 

their learned doctors to account for them. The illus- 
trious bishop of Hippo, Saint Augustine, gave this expla- 
nation: Alaric entered Eome only to make war on idols — 
he was the instrument of God to chastise the pagans; as 
for the Christians who suffered, it was God's will! 

16. The Visigoths in the Service of the Empire, which 
Establishes them in Aquitania, 418. — Athaulf, Alaric's 
brother-in-law, was elected king and his successor. He 
was a brave, skilful, and prudent man. He hastened to 
evacuate southern Italy and secure a line of retreat by 
the north, whence he passed into Gaul. There he 
married his prisoner Honorius's sister, Galla Placidia, 
and again bestowed the purple on Alaric's former figure- 
head. Attains. In the name of this puppet emperor he 
undertook to regain Spain from the Suevi, the Alani, 
and the Vandals who had invaded it in 406; but he barely 
reached the country when he fell under the dagger of an 
assassin. His death changed everything. Walia suc- 
ceeded him after a short and bloody interregnum, and 
treated with Honorius. He gave up to him the wretched 
Attains; liberated Placidia, who married a general of 
Plonorius, Constantinus; attacked the Alani, whom he 
easily overcame, and pushed on into Bsetica. Suddenly, 
in 418, he recrossed the Pyrenees and proceeded to es- 
tablish himself in Aquitania, " the pearl of Gaul,'' which 
the Romans yielded to him. The kingdom of Toulouse 
was founded, and the Visigoths finally settled after forty 
years of constant wanderings, which from the shores of 
the Dniester had brought them to the fertile banks of 
the Garonne. 

Ten years later the Vandals began the conquest of 
Africa. 

17. The Vandals Called into Africa, 427.— Honorius, 
twice married, died childless. His nephew, Valentinian 



VANDALS CONQUER THE PROVINCE, 429-439. 45 

III., succeeded him; he was the son of Constantinus and 
Placidia, and being but six years old, was placed under the 
guardianship of his mother. This intriguing, incapable 
woman was soon circumvented by two ambitious men: 
Count Boniface, ruler of Africa, and General Aetius, of 
barbarian descent, who had made his way rapidly because 
of his military talents and unscrupulous ambition. In- 
stead of holding the balance between the two rivals, the 
empress listened to the perfidious tales of Aetius: and 
Boniface, instead of trying to clear himself, revolted. 
He routed three successive armies sent against him. The 
Vandals profited by this civil war to go over into Africa. 
Eighty thousand warriors, commanded by Gaiseric, at- 
tempted the conquest of the province. This king, small 
and lame, was deep and taciturn. He scorned luxury, but 
was avaricious and high-tempered; he " knew how to win 
hearts, cast the seeds of discord, and stir up hatred '^ 
(Jordanis). Like his people, he was an Arian, and fanatic- 
ally so. He is especially accountable for the excesses 
committed by his warriors in Africa. 

18. They Conquer the Province, 429-439. — Boniface, 
who has been accused of favouring the invasion of the 
Vandals in the hope of finding in them willing tools, was 
horrified when he saw Africa invaded. He hastily organ- 
ised resistance; beaten in the open country, he intrenched 
himself in the fortress of Hippo. The inhabitants and 
the garrison, animated by the courage of the bishop, Saint 
Augustine, repulsed the enemy, who was obliged to raise 
the siege after a blockade of fourteen months. During 
this time Saint Augustine had died (August 28, 430); 
Boniface had gone to seek aid, which did not prevent his 
.being beaten again; a Byzantine army came, only to treat 
with Gaiseric. The fall of Carthage, the " African 
Home," which was sacked in 439, assured the triumph of 



4Q TEE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

ihe Vandals. Master of the seaboard, Gaiseric took pos- 
session of the sea; his vessels seized Lilybaeum in Sicily 
^nd menaced the coast of southern Italy. The emperor 
only succeeded in stopping him by yielding up all the 
province, less western Xumidia, whose capital, Cirta, kept 
its Koman garrison. The Arian king pursued the catholic 
clergy with extreme rigour; priests and bishops were 
forced to escape or else be sold as slaves. Many took 
refuge in Rome, where Gaiseric was to find them later. 

19. Aetius in Gaul. — The imperial authority, ruined in 
Africa, was much shaken in Gaul. But Aetius was vigi- 
lant there. After being delivered from his rival Boni- 
face by a lucky stroke of fortune, he obtained the favour 
of the empress. He had been named patrician, raised 
three times to the consulate, and given the command of 
all the military forces of the Empire. He used them 
skilfully at first, for the defence of the state; the Eipua- 
rians were held in check, the Burgundians hemmed within 
the mountains of Savoy, the Goths beaten under the walls 
■of Aries and near Narbonne, and forced to adhere to the 
terms of their alliance with Rome; he even led them out 
lo m.eet a new enemy, the Huns. 

20. The Huns. Attila. — After having overthrown the 
Crothic Empire, the Huns advanced as far as the Danube. 
They lingered there for half a century. Like all the 
other barbarians established at the doors or on the lands 
of the Empire, they were in the pay of the Romans. 
There were Huns under Stilico at Fiesole, under Aetius 
before Aries and Narbonne; Rouas, one of Attila's uncles, 
tne guest, friend, and ally of Aetius, was brevetted Roman 
general, with annual pay of three hundred and fifty 
pounds in gold. The Romans called this pay; Rouas, 
tribute — and both were right. 

Attila himself passed many years in his youth as a; 



ATTILA AND THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST. 47 

hostage at Byzantium and in the imperial armies. He 
was a son of Mundzuk. When Eouas died, in 434 or 435, 
he appropriated his heritage by means of crime, and suc- 
ceeded through cunning and force in establishing his au- 
thority, not only over the Hunnic tribes, but over most of 
the Germanic peoples. Master of all the barbarian tribes 
swarming outside of the Roman frontiers, he directed 
them against the Empire. 

21. Attila and the Empire of the East. — The Orient at- 
tracted him at first, and as long as Theodosius II. livedo 
whose one talent was beautiful penmanship, he dared 
everything; but in 450 a brave soldier, Marcian, assumed 
the purple, and as Attila demanded the tribute formerly 
yielded by Theodosius, he answered: " If Attila kept the 
peace he would send him presents; if he threatened war 
he would send out soldiers and arms " (Priscus). This firm 
tone, backed up by skilful defensive measures, stopped 
short the king of the Huns. Attila was called, be- 
sides, to the West. The emperor's sister, Honoria, thrown 
into prison for misconduct, sent him her ring and urged 
him to come to her assistance; the leader in some revolts, 
whom Aetius had just driven out of Gaul, promised to de- 
liver up to him the country; finally Gaiseric, who had 
deeply injured the king of the Visigoths, and who feared 
retaliation, urged him to punish that people, who had for- 
merly escaped the domination of the Huns. Attila soon 
made up his mind and prepared for an expedition beyond 
the Ehine. He concentrated his force at the edge of the 
Black Forest, increased by Slavic and Frankish con- 
tingents, Ostrogoths, and GepidsB, Rugii, Suevi, and 
Thuringians; it crossed the river on bridges of boats. 

22. Attila Invades Gaul, 451. — His troops were divided 
into two bodies. One, after harassing the Burgundians^ 
who were allies of the Romans, pushed on through Basel 



48 TUB GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

to Besangon. The other, led by Attila in person, went 
up the Moselle, took and sacked Treves; then Metz, whose 
inhabitants were put to the sword. At Eheims the 
people fled. The barbarians found only a few priests, 
with their bishop, ISTicasius, who were massacred. This 
devastating scourge did not pause in its work. Attila, 
€ager to overwhelm the Visigoths before succour arrived, 
marched directly on Orleans by way of Chalons, Troyes, 
Sens, and reached the Loire early in May. The bishop 
Anianus hurried to Aetius, who was slowly gathering an 
army in the south, assured him that Orleans would hold 
out five weeks, but that he must hasten, then returned to 
shut himself within the walls of the besieged city. 
Aetius's promise, and his own ardent faith, which he 
communicated to others, sustained for some time the 
morale of the garrison, but the city was at the very point 
of yielding when the Koman army came up. 

23. Aetius Stops Attila. — Aetius had induced Theo- 
doric to join his Visigoths to the allies and legionaries 
whom he himself was leading. He had thus united, 
around a solid nucleus of Eoman and Gallic troops, all the 
Germans established on the soil of the Empire — Goths, 
Pranks, and Burgundians. A sudden attack on the dis- 
ordered Huns was successful. Orleans was relieved and 
the prisoners delivered. Attila effected a retreat in good 
order, and tried to secure his booty. Aetius overtook him 
again, five miles from Troyes, on the way to Sens,* in the 
place called Mauriacus campus. A hill, which rises in 
the midst of the plain occupied by the two armies, was 
hotly contested, but Aetius and Thorismund, son of Theo- 
doric, carried it. Then Attila hurled all his troops on the 

* Such is at least the most probable opinion. When a battle is 
said to have been fought in the Catalaunian fields the expression is 
not definite, for it naay be used to cover the whole of Champagne. 



ATTILA IN /TMZr, 452. 49 

enemy; a hand to hand struggle took place, " a battle ob- 
stinate, furious, horrible, such as was never seen in 
memory of man; a little stream flowing through the 
middle of the plain was so swollen by the blood shed that 
it became a roaring torrent " (Jordanis). Theodoric, 
king of the Visigoths, was killed in the onslaught. His 
son tried to avenge him, and the fury of his men broke all 
resistance. Attila was almost killed. He fled to his 
camp, where his vanquished men sheltered themselves be- 
hind a rampart of chariots. Night separated the com- 
batants. The following morning the Huns maintained 
such a bold front that Aetius did not dare begin the fight. 
The new king of the Visigoths, Thorismund, was anxious 
to return to his kingdom so as to prevent his brothers 
from seizing the throne during his absence, and he with- 
drew his troops. Aetius, weakened by their retreat, con- 
tented himself with blockading Attila in his camp. The 
king of the Huns remained there some time, then fell 
back with his booty and crossed the Rhine unmolested. 
Aetius's victory was a momentous event. It saved what 
could be saved of the Empire; but it was less the victory 
of Home than of the Germanic nations, half civilised and 
half Christian, united under the Roman eagles in a strug- 
gle against pagan barbarism. This battle of Chalons, 
won by a Romanised barbarian, Aetius, with Roman and 
Germanic troops, presaged the future of Western Europe. 
24. Attila in Italy, 452. — During the winter Attila re- 
organised his army. In the spring he invaded Italy by 
way of the Julian Alps and besieged Aquileia, which was 
<^arried by assault after three months' resistance, and 
completely destroyed. He then massed his troops be- 
tween Mantua and the Po, intending to cross the river 
and march upon Rome. Nothing could stop his ap- 
proach. Aetius could gather in Italy no army such as 



50 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

had \ron the victory in Gaul; no fortress barred the way 
to the capital. The emperor preferred to treat with him. 
An embassy, made up of two senators and the bishop of 
Eome, Leo I., called the Great or the Wise, bore to the 
leader of the Huns peace propositions, which he accepted 
willingly. The siege of Aquileia had cost him many lives; 
the soldiers who remained to him, laden with booty from 
the Italian cities, wished to ensure its safety; finally the 
emperor of the East, Marcian, threatened to invade Pan- 
nonia. Attila accepted an annual tribute, and withdrew 
from Italy, but threatened to return if Honoria and her 
treasures were not sent after him. 

25. Death of Attila, 453. — While waiting he introduced 
into his harem a young barbarian girl of great beauty^ 
named Hildegund. He was very attentive to this new 
wife, and drank more than usual at the banquet given in 
her honour. The day after the festivities he was found 
dead in his bed. Many refused to believe that this ex- 
traordinary man had died in a natural way. Hildegund 
was accused of assassination, Aetius of instigating her tO' 
murder. The Huns gave their chief a burial worthy of 
him. His body was enclosed in a triple casket, " the first 
of gold, the second of silver, and the third of iron, to 
signify that this powerful monarch had possessed all: 
iron, with which he conquered other nations; gold and 
silver, with which he enriched his own." 

26. Attila in Christian and Germanic Legend. — Attila 
did not completely pass away. His name and the inva- 
sion of the Huns left deep traces in the imagination of 
the terrified inhabitants. Most of the barbarians estab- 
lished up to that time in the Empire had felt at least 
some influence from Eoman civilisation — they were Chris- 
tians. The Huns were furious pagans. People were not 
content to enlarge upon the horrors of this invasion, too 



II 



SACK OF ROME BY THE VANDALS, 465. 51 

real indeed; they were made incredible. At Rheims a 
supernatural voice was said to have frightened the bar- 
barians; at Orleans the prayers of the bishop and the 
faithful evoked an army; at Paris, a woman, a virgin, 
Saint Genevieve, turned aside the invaders; in Italy, if 
Attila listened to the bishop of Rome, it was because at 
the Pope's side rose a superhuman figure clad in pontifical 
robes, which threatened with his drawn sword the bar- 
barian king if he did not yield to the exhortations of 
Christ's vicar. The Latin chroniclers, mostly priests, 
saw in Attila, as they had in Alaric, a scourge raised up 
by God to punish the sins of the world; blind justice, all 
the more fearful for being blind! The Germanic legends, 
on the contrary, have idealised the great figure of Attila. 
In the old poem of the Nihelungen he J)ecomes the good 
king Etzel, protector of nations and benefactor of man- 
kind. But if Attila's name survived, his empire disap- 
peared with him. He left numerous sons. Born of dif- 
ferent women, they fought for his great treasures. The 
Oermanic nations who had been chained to his fortunes 
by force, profited by these quarrels to regain their liberty, 
and the wave of Hunnic invasion receded. 

27. Revolutions in the Palace in the Western Empire. 
— This respite for the Romans was of short duration. 
Valentinian III., jealous of Aetius's success and alarmed 
at his ambitious designs, killed him with his own hand at 
Ravenna in 454. He in turn perished, struck down in 
full day on the Campus Martins by the soldiers of his 
escort, former servants of Aetius. With him died out 
the male line of Theodosius the Great. A senator, Petro- 
nius Maximus, who was perhaps an accomplice of the 
murderers, assumed the purple. Gaiseric judged this an 
opportune time for descending upon Italy. 

28. Sack of Rome by the Vandals, 455. — Two months 



52 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

had scarcely passed since the death of Valentinian when 
he landed at the mouth of the Tiber and marched to- 
wards Eome. Leo I. was again sent out to meet the in- 
vaders, but Saint Peter probably did not appear, since 
the Pope was obliged to capitulate. The Vandals entered 
the city three days after the death of Maximus, who 
was stoned by the people while trying to flee. Eome was 
systematically pillaged for a fortnight. The imperial 
palace, the temple of Jupiter, many other buildings wer& 
stripped of everything. The spoils brought back by 
Titus from Jerusalem were put in chariots destined for 
Carthage; thousands of prisoners followed the baggage. 
Then the brigands took the way to their caves. When 
returned to his kingdom, Gaiseric took from the Eomans 
what remained of their African possessions. This was 
the most important gain which he derived from the expe- 
dition. 

29. End of the Western Empire, 476.— The twenty 
years which followed this bold stroke were years of ex- 
treme confusion for Italy. The real master of the 
Empire was first the Sueve, Eicimer, who amused himself 
in making and unmaking emperors; then Orestes, a for- 
mer secretary of Attila. The latter bore the title of 
patrician and commanded the numerous barbarian aux- 
iliaries quartered in Italy. He had a son from his mar- 
riage with the daughter of Count Eomulus. The child 
was beautiful, and won the hearts of the soldiers, who 
gave him the purple in 473; but the "little Augustus,'' 
Eomulus Augustulus, did not wear it long. Orestes, the 
son-in-law of a Eoman count and father of the emperor, 
aspired to govern in the Eoman way. He refused to re- 
ward his soldiers by distributing to them a share of the 
Italian lands. A chief of the Eugii, Odoacer, roused his 
companions stationed in Liguria, besieged Orestes in 



IMPERIAL UNITY REESTABLISHED. 53 

Pa via, took the city, and had his rival put to death; then 
he marched upon and forcibly entered Eavenna. Al- 
though cruel towards the father, he spared the child. He 
sent him into Campania, with the rest of his family, gave 
him as a home the splendid villa which Lucullus and 
Marius had possessed on the shores of Cape Misene, and 
a pension of six thousand solidi. There, obscure and un- 
known, lived the last emperor of the West, who bore, by 
strange irony, the combined names of the founder of 
Eome and of the Empire. 

30. Imperial Unity Reestablished. Odoacer. — Odoacer 
had the title of king, but he would not govern Italy ex- 
cept as an officer of the Empire. The Senate accepted 
the formal abdication of Augustulus, then decreed unani- 
mously to send an embassy and a letter to the emperor, 
Zeno. It declared useless to continue in Home the im- 
perial succession, " the dignity of one monarch was suffi- 
cient to protect both the West and the East "; it con- 
sented in its own name, and that of the Eoman people, to 
the removal of the seat of the Empire to Constantinople; 
as for Odoacer, " the republic had confidence in his civil 
and military virtues," and the Senate humbly requested 
the emperor to give him the title of " patrician, and the 
government of the diocese of Italy." Imperial unity was 
thus reestablished, but at what a price! The diocese of 
Italy was in fact one more barbarian kingdom. Africa 
belonged to Gaiseric, who, having forced upon the Greeks 
an advantageous treaty, died all powerful in 477; the Visi- 
goths controlled part of Gaul, and even Spain; the Bur- 
gundians in the Ehone valley and the Saone; the Franks 
to the north of the Somme; and between the Loire and 
the Seine the Eoman governor Syagrius assumed the 
royal title. The Empire of the West was in truth 
ended. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE GERMANIC INYASIOXS — THE OSTROGOTHS.* 

1. Illegal Position of Odoacer in Italy. — Odoacer had 
iis'sumed the titles of king and patrician. He wished to- 
satisfy his soldiers without angering the Italians, but in 
spite of his talents and moderation he failed in both 
aims. In the eyes of the conquered he was never any- 
thing more than a tyrant. The emperor refused to 
recognise him, and only awaited a favourable opportunity 
to overthrow him. It soon appeared. 

2. Odoacer Defeats the Bugii of Noricum, 488. — Odo- 
acer had been reigning for ten j^ears when he was led to 
make war on the Rugii established in Noricum. In that 
province there was still a small remnant of catholic 
Romans grouped around a holy man, one of high char- 
acter, Severinus. As long as he lived the Rugii dared not 
attack them, but on his death, in 482, they pillaged his 
monastery and ill-treated his disciples. Odoacer then 
interfered. Severinus had foretold to him his brilliant 
destiny. The master of Rome wished to save what re- 
mained of the saint's work. He fought the Rugii with an 
army of Italians and barbarians, drove them beyond the 
Danube with great carnage, and then brought back the 
Romans from Noricum with him. The emigrants did 

♦SouBCEs.— Jordanis (v. preceding chapter). Cassiodorus: 
Works ; edition Garet (1879). Eanodius : " Panegyric of Tlieo- 
doric " (in his Works). Eugippius: " Yita S. Severini." 

Literature.— Hodgkin, Gibbon, and Bury, as above. Hodgkin, 
•* Theodoric the Great "; Hodgkin, " The Letters of Cassiodorus." 

54 



THEODORIG WRESTS ITALY FROM ODOACER. 55 

not forget the body of the saint who had protected them 
during his life. They bore it in great pomp to Feltria, 
then to Lucullanum. near the charming gulf of Ba'ia, as 
far as possible from the barbarians. 

3. Theodoric. The Emperor Sends him to Conquer 
Italy. — In the meanwhile the remainder of the Rugii had 
sought shelter with the Ostrogoths. Since Attila's death 
these latter lived in Pannonia. Theodoric, born in 454, 
iheir king, had been brought up at Constantinople, where 
he passed ten years as a hostage. He had acquired a 
taste for art, politics, and Roman civilisation, without, 
however, casting off the barbarian, for he never learned 
to read, or form the letters of his name. He had ren- 
dered important services to the emperor Zeno, who, in 
return, loaded him with presents. He was made senator, 
patrician, master of the militia, and consul. But mean- 
time his people were dying of hunger in the lands assigned 
to them on the lower Danube. They forced him to lead 
them on to the gates of Constantinople, destroying 
everything on their way. Theodoric demanded to be sent 
against Italy. "If I am victorious," he said to the em- 
peror, " I shall gain Italy through your kindness; if I am 
conquered, you will lose nothing, you will gain the money 
which I cost you." Is it to be wondered at that Zeno 
consented? He handed over to him, therefore, this prov- 
ince by a solemn act called " Pragmatic," * and dismissed 
him, confiding the Senate and the Roman people to his 
care. 

4. Theodoric Wrests Italy from Odoacer, 488-493.— In- 
vited by the Rugii, authorised by the emperor, Theodoric 
soon finished his preparations. In the autumn of 488 

* This term, which has been occasionally used in modern times in 
the same sense, signified in the Greek Empire a particularly impor« 
tant and solemn ordinance or decree. — Ed. 



56 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

his people moved; women and children followed the war- 
riors, and long files of wagons retarded the march. The 
mountains were crossed in midwinter. The Gepida> 
stopped them on the shores of the Save; Theodoric forced 
its passage by a bloody battle, in which he displayed heroic 
courage. Reaching the banks of the Isonzo, he there 
gave his people time to rest in the warm plains of Italy, 
which he had come, he said, to deliver from Odoacer's- 
yoke. The task was long and difficult. At the price of 
much blood and struggle Theodoric crossed the Adigi,. 
then the Adda. When Odoacer, beaten, took refuge in 
Ravenna, the officer of the Eastern Empire besieged it 
vainly for three years. The two adversaries, tired at last 
of the futile struggle, consented to treat. They agreed 
to divide between them the government of Italy, and 
Theodoric was received with great pomp within the walls 
of Ravenna. A few days later Odoacer was assassinated 
by Theodoric himself at a feast, and his partisans were 
massacred. Perfidy gained Italy for the Goths, whose 
brilliant victories had been unable to effect a conquest. 

5. The Policy of Theodoric. Division of the Subject. — 
The conqueror indeed deserved the favours of fortune,, 
for he was not only a fortunate soldier, but a statesman. 
Peace alone could preserve for him what he had con- 
quered by force and cunning. With this in view, he had 
to discipline the Goths, restore the spirit of the Italians^ 
and secure the frontiers against the attacks of other bar- 
barians or, if necessary, of the emperor. The double 
training which he had received in the Gothic camp and 
at the Byzantine court fitted him admirably for this com- 
plex work. 

6. Theodoric and the Emperor. He Serves the Empire, 
but with Independence.— In regard to the Empire of the 
East, his position was never clearly defined. Legally he 




L 



EUROPE 



in the reign of 
THEODORIC 

Circa A.D. 500. 



Roman Empire 
Teutonic Settlements 

Celts 

_J 

10 




THEODORIC DOMINATES ROME AND ITALY. 57 

was a lieutenant of the emperor, actually he was inde- 
pendent. He bore the title of king of the Italians as well 
as king of the Goths. He asked of Zeno's successor, Ana- 
stasius, and received, the purple; but the emperor kept 
for himself the title, Basileus, whilst Theodoric must be 
content with Rex; this fiction maintained the imperial 
dignity. Warned by Odoacer's example, he respected it. 
It was necessary to appear, to the eyes of the Roman 
populace, subordinate to the emperor; his letters were 
most humble, his money bore the imperial stamp, the 
emperor's name was placed beside his on public monu- 
ments, but he would not endure the slightest infringe- 
ment by the emperor of his royal independence. He re- 
fused to recognise the annual consul chosen by the em- 
peror for the West; he supported a barbarian chief 
Mundo, who was attacked by the Byzantine army; and 
later he forcibly repulsed an imperial fleet, which ap- 
peared off the coast of Calabria. 

7. Theodoric Protects and Dominates Rome and Italy. 
— Theodoric had greater interest in conciliating Rome 
than Byzantium, the Senate than the emperor. His let- 
ters to the Roman senators are drawn up in the pompous 
style affected by the old emperors. He allowed them to 
choose the high officers of the state, merely recommend- 
ing to them his candidates. In 500, when he first came 
to Rome, the Senate, the people, and the clergy, led by the 
bishop, came out to meet him. The Gothic king made a 
triumphal entry into the city; the Arian knelt in the 
basilica of Saint Peter at the apostle's tomb; the bar- 
barian harangued the Senate in the curia of Domitian. 
He declared in a voice energetic and clear that " with the 
aid of God he would maintain the institutions estab- 
lished by his predecessors, and as a guaranty of his 
promise he would engrave his words on bronze.*' He 



58 TEE OERMANIC INVASIONS. 

kept with him the Eomans who had served faithfully 
Odoacer, and changed nothing of the former administra- 
tion; justice was rendered by the ordinary tribunals; the 
taxes were divided and levied as in the past. The mili- 
tary functions only were in the hands of the Goths, who 
formed an army of military colonists quartered on Roman 
soil, with their counts, who commanded and judged them. 
He distributed to his soldiers, as Odoacer had done, a 
third of the Italian lands, but this division was effected 
in an administrative way. by Eoman functionaries. His 
minister Cassiodorus wrote on this subject: "We notice 
with joy that Liberius, by means of the Tertia, has united 
the goods and the hearts of Goths and Eomans; no con- 
flicts arise from the cooperation of the .two peoples; on 
the contrary, common possession of lands causes the two 
to have regard for each other; what has been taken from 
the Eoman gives him a defender in the person of the 
Goth." This official fiction was partly true, and indi- 
cates Theodoric's political intentions. It was important 
to have it thought that he was mingling into one people 
conquerors and conquered. His army was made up of 
barbarians alone, but elsewhere the two peoples had ap- 
parently the same rights and offices; the Goths were forced 
to respect the laws and pay taxes. Lawsuits between 
Eomans and barbarians were tried by " Gothic counts " 
sitting with Eoman judges. In the midst of universal 
fanaticism he was tolerant. The Arians were persecuted 
by the emperors, the Catholics by the Vandals, the Jews 
by everyone. Theodoric protected Catholics and Jews; 
he forced the Christians who had burned sjrnagogues to 
rebuild them at their own expense; if he interfered in 
episcopal elections at Eome it was to establish order, dis- 
turbed by factions, and to compel the recognition of those 
elected by the majority. 



LETTERS AND ARTS. 59 

8. Beneficent Reign of Theodoric. — Whilst calming tHe 
passions of his subjects, he tried to revive material pros- 
perity — particularly fostering agriculture. The frequent 
partitions of land had done away with the great estates 
of later Eoman times and restored the small rural pro- 
prietor. Theodoric had the marshes drained to give 
more lands for farming, repaired the highways, cleaned 
the canals to facilitate transportation, deepened the har- 
bors to assure the arrival of grain at Ravenna and Rome. 
The old monuments were restored. There was a police 
in Rome to protect the statues in marble and bronzes 
which adorned the city. The fourteen aqueducts which 
supplied the city with pure water were carefully kept in 
repair. In Titus's amphitheatre (the Coliseum) games 
and chariot races were held, and Theodoric took up also 
the old custom of distributing food to the populace. 
Panem et circenses! Superb edifices were built at Ra- 
venna, the usual residence of the sovereign; one is still 
in existence, the church of Saint Apollinaris the New; 
erected about 500. 

9. Letters and Arts. — Theodoric had a taste for letters 
as well as art. The two finest ornaments of his realm 
were two Christians, Boethius and Cassiodorus. Boethius 
was born at Rome about 480; was a son-in-law of Sym- 
machus, and consul in 510. Eloquent and learned, he be- 
came a favourite of the Gothic king. He entrusted hira 
with the regulation of the monetary system, with the 
choice of a clepsydra and of a sun-dial to send to the Bur- 
gundian king, and of skilful singers for the king of the 
Franks. His works transmitted to the Middle Ages the 
science of the Greeks; he translated or commented on the 
writings of Aristotle on logic, of Mcomachus on arith- 
metic, of Euclid on geometry, of Ptolemy on astronomy; 
his last work, " Consolation of Philosophy " enjoyed iot 



60 THE OERMANIC INVASIONS. 

ten centuries extraordinary popularity. Boethius is the 
interpreter of the past, a scholar and a philosopher. Cas- 
siodorus, son of a minister of Odoacer, was above every- 
thing a practical man. At twenty he became Theodoric's 
private secretary, and during almost half a century he was 
the principal minister of the Gothic kings. He used, in 
their service, all the resources of his comprehensive 
science, all his talents as a writer. The twelve books of 
" Letters," which contain the acts of his administration, 
are a precious fund of information about Roman institu- 
tions of the fifth century, and in his " History of the 
Goths," unfortunately lost, he collected the historic tra- 
ditions of the new masters of Italy. Jordanis preserved 
an abridgment of it. In the monastery of Vivarius, 
where he lived after the fall of the Gothic empire, he 
wrote his " Institutes of Divine and Human Letters," in 
which he taught Christian theology and the seven funda- 
mental branches of science, the so-called seven liberal 
arts; it was the groundwork of studies during the first 
centuries of the Middle Ages. The " Tripartite His- 
tory," a Latin abridgment of the ecclesiastical histories 
of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoretus, which is supposed 
to have been compiled under Cassiodorus's direction, 
was for a long time, with that of Eusebius, the principal 
manual of ecclesiastical history. He incited the monks 
to intellectual work, and started a tradition which the 
most celebrated religious orders of the Middle Ages passed 
on. Christian civilisation gained much from his example. 
10. Theodoric, "Prince of Peace." — Italy, prosperous, 
pacified, and embellished, left Theodoric at liberty to ex- 
tend his influence over the barbarian world. One of his 
daughters married a Burgundian king, Sigismund; an- 
other, Alaric II., king of the Visigoths ; his sister, a king 
of the Vandals, Trasamund; he himself married a sister 



LAST TEARS AND DEATH OF THEODORIC. 61 

of Clovis, king of the Franks. He treated with Gaiseric's 
son, who yielded Sicily to him; obliged another Bur- 
gundian king, Gundobad-, to give up the Italian prisoners 
he had taken under pretext of helping Odoacer; and gave 
refuge to the Alemanni defeated by Clovis, and settled 
them in Ehoetia. This resolute, helpful conduct gave 
him a renown which no barbarian chief acquired down to 
Charlemagne. Several times he settled by his arbitra- 
tion incipient quarrels; '^ in the western part of the Em- 
pire there was no people who refused him homage " 
(Jordanis). Legend, which had softened the terrible 
figure of Attila, exalted the great " Theodoric of Verona " 
(Dietrich of Bern), a hero by his moral qualities as well as 
by his courage. 

11. Last Years and Death of Theodoric. — The last years 
of Theodoric made an evil ending to so great a reign. 
The Arian Goths and the Roman Christians, conquerors 
and conquered, had not been able to form one people. 
When the orthodox emperor, Justin I., began to persecute 
the Arians, Theodoric was angered. Several senators 
who were said to be in secret correspondence with the 
emperor were denounced to him as trying to overthrow 
the ** tyrant.'' He punished severely these tardy friends 
of Eoman liberty. Boethius, who had arrogantly assumed 
the defence of his colleagues, was arrested, tortured, and 
put to death by means of an irregular trial. His father- 
in-law Symmachus, the most illustrious Roman of his 
time, suffered later the same fate. These bloody execu- 
tions ruined Theodoric's work, by rendering impossible 
any reconciliation between Goths and Romans. The old 
king did not long survive his victims; he died August 30, 
526. The Germans related that Woden's black horse 
came for him in the midst of a feast at Ravenna, to carry 
him off to the celestial palace; the Catholics said that he 



62 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

iWas carried off by the devil mounted on a black charger. 
Party faction rent the memory of him who had been 
the prince of peace. The king^s body was placed in a 
mausoleum, which is still in existence at Eavenna, but the 
tomb has been long empty. 

12. Odoacer and Theodoric. Powerlessness of their 
Rule. — Odoacer and Theodoric were both remarkable 
characters. Brave in battle, wise in council, they tried 
to found, on the same basis, a regular government. Two 
things were lacking to Odoacer; he did not command one 
united nation devoted to him through the prestige of 
national royalty, and he never had a legal title to govern 
the Italians. That is why he failed. Theodoric had 
this double advantage; that is why he succeeded. But 
he, too, built on sand. The Italians endured, but did not 
love, his reign. His empire survived him scarcely twenty 
years. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GERMANIC INVASIONS — THE BARBAKIANS IN 
GAUL — CLOVIS.* 

During the fifth century a great number of Germanic 
peoples crossed through Gaul. Three settled there; the 
Visigoths, the Burgundians, and the Franks. 

1. The Visigoths in Gaul. — The Visigoths were estab- 
lished in Aquitania by the Emperor Honorius (418). 
Their faithfulness to the Empire depended on circum- 
stances. Theodoric I., successor to Walia, was killed 
while fighting the Huns at the battle of Chalons. Theo- 
doric IL, as an ally of Rome, led several victorious expedi- 
tions into Spain. On the other hand, the Visigoths sold 
their alliance to Ricimer, who gave them Narbonne. 
They then turned against Aegidius, defender of Gaul 
after Aetius; the Roman general, seconded by the Franks 
of Chilperic I., inflicted a bloody defeat upon them near 
Orleans (463). Euric, brother and murderer of Theodoric 
II., definitely abjured the Roman alliance; he subdued 
Spain, extended his dominion in Gaul to the Loire, which 
he crossed, and transmitted to his son, Alaric II., a vast 
empire on the two slopes of the Pyrenees, with Toulouse 
as its capital. The government of these kings, however, 

*SouECES. — Gregory of Tours' " Historia Francorum"; editions 
Arndt and Kruscli (" Monumenta Germaniae Historica," 1881-1884), 
Omont and Collon (1888-1893). G. Monod : " :^tudes critiques sur 
les sources de I'histoire merovingienne." Two parts. 

Literature.— Kurtli: " Clovis," 2d edition (1901); Kaufmann: 
" Deutsche Geschichte," vol. ii. 

63 



64 TEE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

was the more often gentle and wise. To gain the Eomans, 
Alaric II. had drawn up, in 506, a summary (Breviarium), 
of the laws included in the code of the emperor Theo- 
dosius II. These princes, however, were Arians; Euric 
persecuted the orthodox bishops, who did not forget it, 
even under the more moderate reign of his son. 

2. The Burgundians in Gaul. — The Burgundians passed 
the Rhine about 413. They first occupied the country of 
Worms and Speyer. Gunther, the hero of the Nibelun- 
gen, reigned there. They were driven out by Aetius, who 
transplanted them to Savoy, in 443. They had no longer 
their old sacerdotal constitution; their irremovable high- 
priest disappeared when they adopted Christianity; their 
chief, whom they removed if he were conquered, or if 
the year were bad, gave place to an hereditary king. 
After the death of Aetius and Yalentinian III., the Bur- 
gundians left the lands on which they had been settled 
and spread over into the Ehone valley, supported by the 
Visigoths and the Gallo-Eomans themselves. " The 
senators shared their lands with them." The period of 
their greatest power was the reign of Gundobad, who 
seems to have had friendly relations with the Romans. 
He had a summary of the Roman laws drawn up, as well 
as the customs of his people, but he was Arian, and could 
not count on the fidelity of the Catholics any more than 
could the Visigoths. 

3. The Franks before Clovis. Their Progress. — In the 
fourth century the Franks had been divided into two large 
groups; one, remaining in Germany, passed over the 
Main and settled on the banks of the Regnitz, the Werra, 
and the Fulda; these were the ancestors of the Fran- 
conians and of the Hessians. The others crossed the 
Rhine; the Salians settled to the north of the Somme; the 
Ripuarians on the left bank of the Rhine up to the 



OROANISATION OF THE FRANKS. 65 

Moselle and the Meiise. They were at first members of 
a federation. One of them, Arbogast, served brilliantly 
.under the orders of Theodosius before revolting against 
him at the end of the fourth century. The first king of 
the Salian Franks known to history was Clodion, or Chlo- 
gion (428-448), and his successor, Merovius, fought the 
Suevi, the Vandals, and the Huns. Childeric I., son 
of Merovius (457-481), helped ^gidius in a battle fought 
near Orleans against the Visigoths; he was an ally 
of Count Paulus in an expedition against the Saxons, 
masters of Angers. The Franks were also the auxiliaries 
of the Romans in the north of Gaul, as the Burgundians 
:were in the southeast. Childeric chose Tournai as the 
capital of his realm; his tomb was found there in 1653. 
He appears to have lived on good terms with the Catholic 
clergy, and Saint Genevieve induced him to pardon some 
criminals condemned to death. He remained a pagan 
himself, and had his son brought up in the same faith; 
but the Church preferred pagans to heretics. 

4. Organisation of the Franks at the Date of the Salic 
Law. — The condition of the Franks can be known by 
studying the Salic law, the customary law of the Salian 
Franks. The institutions of primitive Germany are al- 
ready much changed. Nobility and general assemblies 
of the people are no longer in question. The assembly 
of the district, the mallus, has been modified: all freemen 
have the right, as before, to be present, but a certain 
number of them, the rachimhurgi, prepare the decisions of 
the tribunal. When it is necessary to execute a sentence 
by force, the count, or graf, a functionary named by 
the king, carries it out. The kingly authority has in- 
creased, the counts represent him in various districts and 
command the army. In order to control these agents, 
he sometimes takes them from the lowest classes of 



66 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

society, from freedmen, or even slaves. Certain criminal 
cases which were formerly judged in popular assembly 
are reserved for his personal tribunal. The king wears 
his hair long, a distinctive mark of the Merovingians. 
The kingly office is hereditary; the principle of election 
reappears when there is no legitimate heir of the throne. 
Although he may be dispossessed for his crimes or his 
vices, according to the legend of Chilperic I., he cannot 
be replaced by a prince of another family, still less by a 
foreigner. Yet he is far from being all powerful. His 
troops obey him only on condition of doing as they will. 
The troops are few and would affiliate easily with the 
Gallo-Eoman population. This transformation was to be 
the work of one man, Clovis. 

5. Clovis, 481-486.— The birth of Clovis in 466 is 
shrouded in fable; his early years are unknown, and no 
chronicler has left us his portrait. The confusion in 
Gaul afforded him opportunities for personal aggrandise- 
ment, which he put to profit. In the fifth year of his 
reign he marched against his nearest neighbour, Syag- 
rius, son of ^gidius, who since the fall of the Western 
Empire had taken the title of king; he conquered him, 
seized his kingdom, and had him secretly put to death in 
486. 

6. The Soissons Vase, 486. — The Frankish army pil- 
laged many churches in this campaign. At Rheims they 
carried off a sacred vase of wonderful size and beauty. 
The bishop sent to claim it. On the distribution of the 
booty, which occurred at Soissons, Clovis demanded the 
vase to be put in his share, but a jealous, violent soldier 
struck the vase, exclaiming: " You shall have nothing but 
what comes to your share." The king hid his resentment, 
and gave the vase to the bishop's messenger. The next 
year, at a review of the troops, he approached the soldier 



BAPTISM OF CLOVIS, 496. 67 

who had insulted him and said: " No, one's weapons are as 
badly cared for as yours/' and seized them and threw 
them on the ground. As the man bent over to pick them 
up he cleft his head with his axe, saying: " Thus you did 
to the vase at Soissons "; he then dismissed the others, 
having intimidated them in this way. Clevis's ferocity, 
his haughtiness as a chief who will be obeyed, his inten- 
tion of conciliating the Catholic clergy, are clearly shown 
in this story, recorded by the bishop, Gregory of Tours. 

7. Clovis Master of the Country North of the Loire. — 
Master of Soissons, Clovis advanced to the Seine; Paris, 
blockaded for five years, finally opened her doors and be- 
came the capital of the new Frankish state. Nantes, on 
the Loire, was taken after a long siege. Clovis now pos- 
sessed all the Roman country which could accept him as 
a chief and furnish him useful military contingents. He 
used them against his barbarians neighbours. 

8. Baptism of Clovis, 496. — The first of these expedi- 
tions appears to have been directed against the inhabit- 
ants of the left bank of the lower Rhine. They were 
subdued in 491. Five years later he attacked the Ale- 
manni. The latter had repeatedly tried to settle on the 
l-eft shore of the Rhine. They gave battle, near the 
modern Ziilpich, to the king of Cologne, Siegbert, a rela- 
tive of Clovis, who was seriously wounded. Clovis pur- 
sued and overtook them near the Rhine. At first his 
warriors were defeated. Now Clovis had married, three 
years before, a Catholic princess, Clotilda, niece of Gunde- 
bad, the Burgundian king; she had vainly tried to convert 
her husband to her religion. As long as Clovis was for- 
tunate he believed in his gods; but now that Woden 
seemed to have abandoned him he called upon Christ. 
^* If you will make me victorious, and show this power of 
which the Christians say they have so many proofs> I will 



68 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

believe in you and be baptised." Shortly after the for- 
tune of the battle changed; the king of the Alemanni 
being killed, his troops disbanded and submitted to the 
conqueror. Clovis returned to his kingdom, and with the 
consent of his people was baptised at Eheims by the 
Bishop Eemigius, Saint Eemi. " Bow thy head/' said the 
bishop, ^'^ adore what thou hast burned and burn what 
thou hast adored." His sister and three thousand 
Prankish warriors followed his example. 

9. Advantages which Clovis Gained from his Baptism. 
— Without suspecting it, Clovis had just completed an 
action of the greatest importance politically. He was the 
first among the barbarian kings to embrace the Catholic 
faith, and he was the only one in Gaul. Tired of Arian 
domination, the orthodox, that is to say, the majority of 
the inhabitants, looked henceforth to the Frankish king; 
they became in advance his allies and facilitated his con- 
quest of the country.* They were eager to express their 
feelings. All the bishops of the cities then subject to 
the Franks were present at the baptism of Clovis. The 
bishop of Vienne, Avitus, who passed his life in preach- 
ing Catholicism to the Burgundians, excused himself for 
not being able to be there and congratulated him thus: 
"All celebrate the triumph of Clovis; the Church herself 
is interested in his fortune; each battle which he wins is 
a victory for her." The way for the alliance between 
Church and Eoyalty, so advantageous for both powers, 
was thus opened at the beginning of the Merovingian 
dynasty! 

10. Clovis Attacks the Burgnndian King. He Fails. 
If Clovis had renounced his gods, he had not given 

* The evidence which we have indicates that this was rather the 
attitude of the Gallic clergy than that of thelmass of the people.— 
Ed. 



CLOVIS SUBDUES THE VISIGOTHS, 507. 69 

np his habits; Christian or pagan, he was always a bar- 
barian. Clotilda was also barbarian. By marrying 
Clevis she had wished to escape the guardianship of her 
Uncle Gundobad, murderer of her father Chilperic, and 
assure her vengeance. She had no trouble in rousing a 
like passion in her husband, who soon began a campaign 
(500). Gundobad and his brother Godegisel tried to 
stop him near Dojin; but when the combat had begun, 
Godegisel, who had a secret understanding with Clovis, 
deserted to his side. The two united armies routed 
Gundobad and pursued him to the walls of Avignon. 
Then Gundobad treated; he offered an annual tribute, 
which Clovis fixed himself. When the Franks had with- 
drawn and Gundobad had reconstructed his forces, he 
marched suddenly against his brother, seized him in 
Vienne, which he entered through an aqueduct, and put 
him to death. The Frankish garrison was sent "into 
exile " in Toulouse with Alaric. 

11. Clovis Subdues the Visigoths, 507. — Instead of try- 
ing to avenge this affront, Clovis turned against the Visi- 
goths. The two peoples had been at enmity for a long 
time. Childeric had fought them; Alaric II. had given 
refuge to Syagrius before delivering him to the conqueror 
of Soissons; he retained the Franks, who were taken at 
Vienne; finally, he was Arian. Theodoric the Great, 
brother-in-law of Clovis and father-in-law of Alaric, 
vainly interposed; in 507 the war broke out. Clovis said 
to his warriors: "It pains me to see Arians in possession 
of a part of Gaul; let us march against them, with God's 
aid, and gain their country for ourselves." This ha- 
rangue pleased them and they set forth. Cloderic, son 
of Sigibert of Cologne, led a Eipuarian contingent, and 
Gundobad the Burgundian king promised Clovis his 
assistance. The enemies met in the plain of YouilU, ten 



10 THE GERMANIC INVASIOIfS. 

miles to tlie west of Poitiers. The Goths fought witH 
javelins, but the Franks charged lance in hand and put 
them to flight. Clovis had killed their king Alaric, wheu' 
suddenly two warriors attacked him on both sides at once. 
He escaped death, thanks to the excellence of his armour 
and the lightness of his horse. Many Arverni who had 
come with Apollinaris, son of Sidonius, the bishop and 
senator, perished in this battle. Theodoric, Clovis's son, 
was sent to conquer Auvergne and subdue all the cities 
"from the frontier of the Goths to the Burgundian," 
whilst Gundobad destroyed, near Marbonne, the remains 
of the vanquished army. Clovis took Bordeaux, where he 
passed the winter, carried off from Toulouse the treasures 
of Alaric, marched upon Angouleme, " whose ramparts 
fell of themselves," and returned victorious to Tours, 
where he offered presents in the basilica of Saint Martin. 
The armed intervention of the Ostrogoths prevented the 
total extinction of the Yisigothic kingdom on the north' 
of the PjTenees. Septimania, the country between the 
Cevennes, the Ehone, and the sea, was preserved; but the 
capital was transported to Toledo, and the Ostrogoths 
remained masters for some time of Provence. 

12. Clovis Subdues the Prankish Kingdoms. — Clovis 
had subdued three-quarters of Gaul by force; stratagem 
and cruelty reduced the Eipuarian states and those of 
the Salian kings, his kinsmen.* In the war against 
Syagrius, Chararic, king of Terouanne, had served the 
Franks badly. " Clovis marched against him, entrapped 
and imprisoned him and his sons, had them shorn, and 
commanded that he should be ordained priest and his son 

* Before Clovis the Franks had had no common government, but 
were divided into a number of very small, but independent states, 
each with its own king, all of whom claimed a descent from Mero- 
vias.— Ed. 



CLOVIS'S GOVERNMENT. Vl 

deacon "; then for greater security he had them killed. 
Eagnachar reigned at Cambrai, a king of evil reputation. 
Clovis instigated his men to revolt, imprisoned him, and 
killed him with his two brothers. He dispossessed in 
the same way other members of the royal family among 
the Salian Franks, then took their treasures and king- 
doms as being nearest heir. He was more cautious with 
the Eipuarians. He instigated Cloderic to kill his father, 
Sigibert the Lame, then had Cloderic traitorously assass- 
inated. After this he went to Cologne and spoke thus 
to the people: "I am not implicated in this affair, for I 
cannot shed the blood of my relatives, that would be a 
crime; but since such events have taken place I counsel 
you to have recourse to me and place yourselves under 
my protection." The soldiers applauded his words, raised 
him on a rich shield, and proclaimed him king. Gregory 
of Tours coldly relates these facts. " Each day," he adds, 
'' God struck down the enemies of Clovis under his hand, 
and enlarged his kingdom, because he went with an up- 
right heart before the Lord and did the things that were 
pleasing in his sight." Yet Gregory vv^as a pious and 
good man. What must have been the harshness of man- 
ners when a saintly bishop excused such crimes com- 
mitted by a king who favoured the Church! 

13. Clevis's Death. — Clovis died in Paris in the second 
half of the year 511. He was buried in the Church of 
the Holy Apostles, which he, with his queen, Clotilda, had 
"built. He was but forty-five years old. 

14. His Government. — His reign had entirely changed 
^he destinies of the Prankish nation. Poyalty had still 
its Germanic stamp, but royal authority had greatly in- 
creased; this may be seen by studying the relations of 
Clovis with the Gallo-Romans, the Church, and the 
Pranks. Prom the emperor Anastasius he received the 



V2 THE GERMANIC INVASIONS. 

title, and perhaps the insignia, of the Consulate. In the 
basilica of Saint Martin he donned the purple tunic and 
the chlamys; then mounting his horse he scattered gold 
and silver among the populace. Although his name is 
not found on any consular list, he had henceforth a legal 
title to command the Gallo-Eomans; for them he repre- 
sented the emperor. In this respect Clovis's authority 
was the more absolute, because political life was dead, 
and the Gallo-Eomans, harassed by frequent invasions, 
asked only to be governed. In his intercourse with his 
own people Clovis was obliged to show them more con- 
sideration. When the army was on the march his au- 
thority was boundless, but he. must consult his soldiers 
in order to undertake a campaign, and in the distribution 
of booty the king, like the soldiers, had his share fixed by 
lot. Conquests augmented Clovis's treasures and in- 
creased the number of barbarians living under his pro- 
tection. For this reason his person assumed in their 
eyes a character more worthy of respect. Among the 
laity he had only devoted subjects. Lastly, his baptism 
made of him the temporal chief among the orthodox; the 
Church provided him with counsellors. The bishop ad- 
dressed him reverently, for to them he was " the master." 
He it was in reality who appointed them, and, although 
the clergy and the people must ratify his choice, neither 
people nor clergy opposed it. In 511 he convoked at 
Orleans a great synod composed of thirty-two bishops of 
Gaul, and by approving their decisions he made them 
effective. He loaded with gifts the faithful clergy; he 
built churches, repaired ancient ones, and founded monas- 
teries. This barbarian royalty, recent as it was, made 
itself constitutional from the first, by insisting on the 
ecclesiastical and Eoman principle of authority. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

THE FKANKISH KINGDOM FKOM 511 TO 639.* 

1. Division of Clovis's Kingdom. — Clovis had no com- 
prehension of the great things that he had done; he took 
no measures to ensure the survival of his work. Gai- 
seric, with more foresight, forbade his sons to divide the 
kingdom; Clovis did nothing of the kind. His sons 
treated the inheritance as a private property, according 
to the customary law of the Salian Franks. The oldest, 
Theodoric, son of a first wife, had the kingdom of 
Eheims, with the upper valley of the Meuse, all the 
course of the Moselle and the lower Rhine, as well as Au- 
vergne, which he had conquered in 508. Clotilda's sons 
inherited the remainder. Clodomir received the valley 
of the Loire from Nevers, with Orleans as the capital; 
Childebert the kingdom of Paris with the coast of the 
channel and a part of Gothia; Lothaire had the small 
kingdom of Soissons with Laon, Cambrai, Toumai, and 
Boulogne. He was the youngest and the least favoured. 
The shares were unequal and arbitrary, the new kings- 
cruel and greedy. They had but one preoccupation; 
their own aggrandisement, whether by uniting against 
their neighbours or rending one another. 

* Sources. — Gregory of Tours, as above. " Compilation dite de 
Fredegaire." G. Monod (1885); also Kruscli (" Monumenta Germ.'* 
1889). " Gesta regum Francorum " (" Monum. Germ.," 1889). 

Literature. — A. Longnon, " Geographie de la Gaule au VI® 
Si^cle," and " Atlas Historique de la France " ; Kaufman as above. 

73 



^4 THE FBANKISH KINGDOM FROM 511 TO 639. 

2. The Kingdom of Rheims. Theodoric. — Being mas- 
ter of eastern France and Anvergne, Theodoric wished to 
finite these two possessions, which were separated by Bur- 
gundy. He joined his brothers in an expedition against 
that country, and seized the entire north: Langres, 
!Nevers, and Chalon-sur-Saone, with Viviers' at the west. 
To punish the instigators of a plot to deliver Auvergne to 
Childebert, he ravaged that territory in 530, then con- 
quered le Velay, le Gevaudan, the surrounding country 
of Limoges and Cahors. In Germany, after having re- 
pulsed an invasion of Danish pirates and exacted tribute 
from the Frisians, Saxons, and Bavarians, he invaded 
Thuringia jointly with Lothaire. There was great car- 
nage among their enemies. In Lothaire's share of the 
l30oty was Eadegonda, the niece of the Thuringian king, 
whom he married; but the queen's brother having been 
killed by her husband, she abandoned a world where 
crime was triumphant, and built a monastery at Poitiers. 
Her virtues made her celebrated, and the Church canon- 
ised her. 

3. Theodoric's Successors: Theodebert and Theodebald. 
— Theodebert, who inherited all the possessions of Theo- 
doric (534), in spite of his uncles, enlarged his kingdom 
still more. He went to the assistance of the Goths in 
Italy, attacked by the imperial troops, and received a part 
of Provence as the price of his services; moreover, he 
brought back such quantities of precious metal that, first 
among the Prankish kings, he had new coins struck, 
stamped with his name and image in the costume of the 
emperors. Times had changed since Clovis was proud 
to receive from Constantinople the insignia of the Con- 
sulate. Theodebald, son and successor of Theodebert 
(547-555), again despatched troops beyond the Alps, but 
they were beaten, and for two centuries the Franks left 



CONQUEST OF SEPTIMANIA. 15 

Italy unmolested. One year after this repulse he died, 
childless, and his great dominions were united to those of 
Lothaire. 

4. The Orleans Kingdom. Clodomir. — Clodomir began 
the conquest of Burgundy conjointly with Theodoric. 
He was defeated and killed at Yezeronce in 524, leaving 
three sons, whom their grandmother, Clotilda, took to 
bring Vp. Childebert and Lothaire obtained possession 
of them and killed two, compelling the third to become a 
monk; then they shared the kingdom of Orleans. They 
paid their dispossessed nephew an indemnity in lands, 
in the neighbourhood of Eheims, in Berry, and near Paris. 
He founded a monastery in this latter district in the vil- 
lage of JSTovigentum, and later the Church canonised 
him as Saint Cloud, for his good deeds. Shortly after, 
the war began again in Burgundy, which was conquered 
and partitioned after three years of struggle. 

5, Conquest of Septimania. — Septimania alone remained 
to be conquered, and all Gaul would belong to the Frank- 
ish kings. Pretexts were not lacking for this undertak- 
ing. In the same way that Clotilda's sons had avenged 
their mother, by attacking the Burgundian kings, Childe- 
bert avenged his sister, maltreated by her Arian husband, 
by invading Septimania in 531. Amalaric, beaten near 
Narbonne, fled to Barcelona, where he was killed. Chil- 
debert took back his sister, with rich treasures, among 
them many precious objects used in church ceremonies: 
chalices, patens, and coffers intended to hold the Gospels. 
" He would not allow an3'thing to be broken; he divided 
all among the churches and the basilicas of the saints.'' 
In 542 he retraced his way to the Pyrenees, this time with 
Lothaire. The two brothers were unsuccessful at the 
siege of Saragossa, but they conquered a large part of 
Spain, and returned to Gaul ladeu' with spoils. They 



^6 TEE FRANKI8H KINGDOM FROM 511 TO 689. 

brought back with them the relics of Saint Vincent, to 
whom they built near Paris a church, which was later 
known as Saint Germain-des-Pres. The spasms of devo- 
tion which seized these bloody, thieving warriors are not 
to be wondered at; they had crimes enough to expiate! 

6. Childebert and Lothaire. Lothaire Sole King, 660. — 
Until Lothaire seized Theodebald's inheritance, Childe- 
bert and Lothaire seem to have lived together amicably. 
Childebert, considering himself, and not unreasonably, so 
defrauded, entered into a secret understanding with one 
of his brother's sons, who revolted, but he died without 
male issue, and Lothaire appropriated his states. His 
son, in the meanwhile, had found partisans in Brittany, 
but he was overtaken by his father's army, and the latter 
condemned him to death. Imprisoned with his family in 
a poor man's cabin, he was strangled, the house was 
Bet on fire, and his wife and children perished in the 
flames. 

7. Lothaire's Death, 561. — Lothaire triumphed. Gaul 
almost entirely belonged to him, and he considered him- 
self a great king. But he was old, and began a little late 
to repent of his crimes. His groanings before Saint 
Martin's tomb did not avert a malignant fever. Tortured 
by the disease, he exclaimed: "Alas! what must this king 
of heaven be who can let so powerful a monarch die 
thus! " With such feelings of simple-minded pride he 
passed away. His four sons bore him in honour to Sois- 
sons and buried him under the basilica of Saint Medard. 

8. Division of Lothaire's Kingdom. — Gaul was divided 
again, as it had been at Clovis's death, but less arbitrarily. 
Caribert, king of Paris, was allotted all western Gaul, from 
Bresle on the northeast to the Pyrenees; Gunthram, 
king of Macon, had Burgundy, with the addition of 
Troyes, Auxerre, Orleans, and Bourges, and a large part 



DIVISION OF CARIBERT'S KINGDOM. 11 

of Provence; Sigibert, king of Metz, drew eastern France, 
or Anstrasia, with Auvergne, Rouergue, Vivarais, and a 
share of Provence. Chilperic, son of another wife, fared 
ill^ as Lothaire had done; he was given the kingdom of 
Soissons. These partitions conformed more to the nat- 
ural grouping of peoples than had the divisions of 511, 
but civil war was once more to spread confusion. 

9. Chilperic and Sigibert. — This was begun by Chil- 
peric, who, discontented with his share, took advantage of 
Sigibert's absence on an expedition against the Hunnic 
tribe of the Avars to invade his kingdom and seize several 
cities. The war was embittered by the hostility of the 
two queens, Brunhilda and Fredegonda. 

10. Brunhilda. — Brunhilda, daughter of Athanagild, 
king of the Goths in Spain, had married Sigibert in 566. 
Her beauty, the dignity of her life, the prudence and 
charm of her conversation contrasted favourably with the 
odiousness of the wives of the other Frankish kings. 
Her wedding had been celebrated at Metz with great 
pomp. The poet Venantius Fortunatus celebrated it in 
verses both curious and barbaric. The brilliancy of the 
feasts and the prestige of Sigibert's alliance with the 
Goths in Spain aroused Chilperic's jealousy. 

11. Division of Caribert's Kingdom. — In the midst of 
all this Caribert died, without sons, and his inheritance 
was dismembered by his three jrothers. Each of them 
wished a third of the territories of Paris, Beauvais, 
Chartres, and Seulis; they coveted Paris also, but it was 
decided that this city should be neutral, and that no one 
should enter it without the consent of the others, under 
penalty of incurring divine wrath and losing his share in 
Caribert's kingdom. Thus the states of each king were 
surrounded by those of the others; there were frontiers 
everywhere, and nowhere the slightest security. 



IB THE FRANKI8H KINGDOM FROM 511 TO 639. 

12. ChilperiG I., Husband and Murderer of Gailes- 
wintha, 567. — Chilperic had rounded out his territory 
with a part of western France, or Neustria, and of x\qui- 
taine; henceforth he was established at the foot of the 
Pyrenees. To checkmate Sigibert^ he asked and obtained 
readily the hand of Gaileswintha, Brunhilda's oldest sis- 
ter. He displayed more magnificence in his marriage 
than Sigibert, and the day after the wedding he presented 
his wife with five Aquitanian cities which he had just ac- 
quired by Caribert's death. They were Bordeaux, Li- 
moges, Cahors, Beam, and Bigorre. This marriage, con- 
cluded under sad auspices, was not happy. To marry this 
new wife he had set aside Fredegonda, a woman of ob- 
scure birth, whose striking beauty had won Chilperic's 
love. She was not long in regaining her influence over 
iiim, and to get rid of the legitimate wife Fredegonda 
?iad her strangled in bed. 

13. He is Condemned in the Prankish Mallus. — Chil- 
peric's two brothers accused him of murder, took up arms 
against him, and drove him from the kingdom. The 
further pursuit of vengeance was stopped by a judgment 
pronounced by Gunthram and the Franks. The mallus 
decided that Brunhilda should receive as wergeld the five 
cities which Gaileswintha had been given as Morgen- 
gabe. 

14. Sigibert's Murder and Chilperic's Triumph, 575. — 
For some time the hostile brothers seemed to live ami- 
cably, but in 574 Chilperic opened hostilities against Sigi- 
bert. The latter, commanding the nations which lived 
beyond the Ehine, delayed not to carry war into his 
rival's lands, and he soon had him shut up in Tournai, 
with Fredegonda. He then had himself proclaimed king 
by Childebert's former subjects, at Vitry on the Scarpe; 
but he had scarcely been raised on the shield when he and 



FBEDEGONDA ALL POWERFUL. V9 

several of his officers were assassinated by two emissaries 
of Fredegonda. He was forty years old. The crime re- 
mained unpunished, and those who had done the deed 
profited by it. Chilperic not only recovered what he had 
lost, but in despite of prior agreement he came to Paris, 
seized Brunhilda, exiled her to Eouen, and took her treas- 
ures. Sigibert's son, the little Childebert, aged five, 
barely escaped certain death, through the devotion of 
Duke Gondebad, who carried him off and had him pro- 
claimed king. 

15. Fredegonda All Powerful. — Chilperic's family as 
well as Sigibert's was afiiicted. A wife whom he had 
married before Gaileswintha bore him three sons. One 
of them, Merovius, fell in love with Brunhilda, the cap- 
tive, and married her. The bishop of Rouen, Pre- 
textatus, was not afraid to consecrate this union, which 
aroused Chilperic's and Fredegonda's anger. Merovius,. 
pursued by his father, had himself killed by one of his 
followers rather than fall into his hands; Pretextatus 
was exiled, then put to death by Fredegonda. A brother 
of Merovius, Clovis, insulted his step-mother; she 
had him stabbed and thrown into the Marne. In the 
sixth century men's consciences were not sensitive, 
yet they were indignant at Fredegonda's crimes. She 
tried to silence her accusers by dint of audacity and 
violence. The son of a freedman, who by means of 
boldness and cunning had made his way at court, stated 
that Gregory, the bishop of Tours, had calumniated 
the queen. Ke was commanded to appear before a 
tribunal of bishops. Bertram, bishop of Bordeaux, stated 
the case; Gregory denied everything. The king presided 
in the midst of the bishops. " The accusation against 
my wife," he said, "is a shame upon me. If you see 
fit to produce witnesses against the bishop they are 



80 THE FRANEISH KINGDOM FROM 511 TO 639. 

here; if it seems preferable to leave it to his good faitK, 
say so, and I will abide by your decision." The latter 
method was adopted. After having said three masses, 
Gregory purged himself by oath of the words imputed to 
him. As to his accuser, he was denounced by the 
king himself, and condemned to exclusion from all 
churches " as a sower of lies, calumniator of the queen, 
and accuser of a bishop." Fredegonda had him assas- 
sinated. 

16. Chilperic a Wit and Debauchee. His Death, 584. — 
Ohilperic trembled before the bishops, the only moral 
force which held its own before the barbarians. He 
^' hated the churches," but he loved to converse with 
priests. He prided himself on his knowledge of theology 
and literature; he made verses, proposed to add to the 
alphabet new letters to represent the new sounds of the 
Teutonic language, discoursed on the mystery of the 
Trinity, tried to convert the Jews. He liked spectacles, 
and had games for the populace in circuses built at Paris 
and Soissons. He was a dilettante and a debauchee, but 
he governed none the less skilfully. The Nero, the 
Herod of his time, as Gregory of Tours calls him, died, 
assassinated at his villa of Chelles. Fredegonda was ac- 
cused of his death, although she was the first to lose by 
it; but no one regretted the man. A small part of the 
kingdom which he had built up by his successful crimes 
passed to his son, Lothaire II., a child of four months^ 
who was under the guardianship of his uncle Gunthraniji 
king of Burgundy. The remainder was usurped by Gun- 
thram and by Sigibert's son, Childebert II. 

17. Gunthram's Pacific Role. — Gunthram, the only 
surviving son of Lothaire I., was not a warlike chief, as 
Sigibert, nor a greedy, dissolute wit like Chilperic. His 
life was not much more peaceful and chaste than that of 



TREATY OF ANDELOT, 587. 81 

fiis brothers, but he had a sense of justice; he loved his 
family, and suffered to see it violently extinguished. He 
took his two nephews under his protection, Childebert II., 
son of Brunhilda, and Lothaire II., son of Fredegonda. 
His vanity was doubtless flattered at being the chief of 
all the Franks, yet his reign is not deplorable. His task 
.was a heavy one. Childebert was about fifteen, and eager 
to be free. Brunhilda, having a strong ascendency over 
him, had regained her power, and was still seeking ven- 
geance for Sigibert's murder. Gunthram, on his side, 
was looking for Chilperic's assassins, but in vain. Fi- 
nally uprisings burst out in Gaul. An Austrasian duke, 
Eauching, conspired with other nobles of Lothaire's king- 
dom to seize the power in Austrasia. The plot was dis- 
covered and promptly frustrated by the death of the 
conspirators; but it showed that kings should take pre- 
cautions to keep their subjects, and especially their 
agents, in the line of duty. For this reason Childebert 
and Gunthram strengthened their alliance by the treaty 
of Andelot. 

18. Treaty of Andelot, 587. — They decided at first cer- 
tain questions of inheritance, then fixed the condition of 
their subjects, or leudes. The leudes who on the death of 
Lothaire I. had first vowed allegiance to Gunthram or 
Sigibert, and who afterwards were convicted of adopting 
another party, should be returned to their allegiance; 
the others might circulate freely in both kingdoms, but 
each one of the kings agreed to refrain from enlisting in 
his services his ally's leudes. Finally, gifts made by the 
kings to the Church or to the leudes should not be re- 
voked. It would be inaccurate to consider this treaty a 
victory of the aristocracy over the royal power; it was 
«imply a compact for personal safety between the two 
kings. There is also in it no question of the heredity of 



82 THE FRANKISH KINGDOM FROM 511 TO 639. 

benefices; benefices in the sense in which the word was 
understood during the eighth and ninth centuries did not 
yet exist; the kings guaranteed the leudes possession of 
the lands which had been given them by the kings. In a 
society which was not based on obedience to law, but 
on personal relations, peace was alone possible at tliis 
price. 

19. Gunthram Protects and Restrains Childebert II. 
and Lothaire II. — ^Allied to Childebert, Gunthram re- 
mained, after, as before the treaty of Andelot, Lothaire's 
protector; and when the Austrasian king complained he 
replied: "Provided Childebert keeps all the promises he 
made me, what I possess is his. Let him not be scan- 
dalised if I receive Lothaire's envoys. Am I devoid of 
sense if I try to prevent discord between my nephews ? '^ 
Some years later, when young Lothaire was baptised, Gun- 
thram, at Fredegonda's request, held him at the font and 
treated him as a son. His beneficent role ceased only on 
his death in 593. 

20. Torture of Brunhilda and Triumph of Lothaire II., 
613. — This was the signal for the outbreak of fresh 
troubles. Lothaire IL, left unprotected at the age of 
fourteen by the death of his mother, Fredegonda, was 
beaten several times by the sons of Childebert IL, who 
had died in 597; these sons then made war on one an- 
other, and both were killed. In 613 Brunhilda was left 
alone with her grandsons; she assumed the sovereignty in 
Austrasia and Burgundy; but the nobles detested her and 
gave her over to Lothaire IL When she was brought be- 
fore the ISTeustrian king, Fredegonda's son accused her of 
causing the death of ten Frankish kings. She was tor- 
tured for three days, then paraded through the army on 
a camel; finally, tied by the hair and an arm and foot to 
a wild horse, she was dashed to death. Fredegonda, who 



LOTHAIBE IL ABANDONS THE GOVERNMENT. 83 

•was worse than she, died peacefully in her bed, and was 
honourably buried in the church of Saint Vincent! But 
posterity, condemning the memory of Fredegonda, has 
been more indulgent to Brunhilda. Some have gone 
so far as to represent her as defending Eoman civili- 
sation against barbarism; important public works have 
been attributed to her, and Eoman roads in Burgundy and 
elsewhere long bore the name of Brunhilda's roads. Her 
tragic end, by inspiring sympathy, caused intentions to 
be attributed to her which she did not have; she played 
an odious part with her grandchildren, through love of 
power. But the praises which Gregory of Tours accords 
her, the affectionate relations of the Pope, Saint Gregory 
the Great, with her, imply that her intellectual culture 
was superior to the barbarian princes who surrounded 
her. She wished to rule, and she knew how to do so, 
with the aid of the Gallo-Romans. The leudes, impatient 
of all authority, and especially of the yoke of a woman, 
hated her, and she was their victim. 

21. Lothaire II. Abandons the Oovernment to Bishops 
and Nobles. — Lothaire II. profited by the crimes of his 
mother and aunt; he remained sole king of all the Franks. 
To keep himself in power he allowed others to govern. 
He owed his victory to his nobles, and he allowed them to 
have greater influence in the government. In Paris he 
convoked a general council, in which were assembled 
seventy-nine bishops; eight days later, the nobles having 
joined themselves to the prelates, an edict was promul- 
gated which secured, within certain limits, freedom of 
episcopal elections, and defined the duties of royal func- 
tionaries and the rights of the king in matters of justice 
and imposts. This Perpetual Constitution, which was in- 
tended to secure lasting peace in the kingdom, has been 
judged a victory for the aristocracy. It is certain, how- 



84 THE FBANKI8H KINGDOM FROM 511 TO 639 

ever, that the king could govern only with the help of the 
nobles, and that Lothaire allowed the Burgundians to 
choose the mayor of the palace Warnachair. The Aus- 
trasians soon wished to have a king for themselves, and 
demanded one of Lothaire's sons, Dagobert, who began to 
reign in 623. This demand occasioned fresh discords, 
which almost embroiled eastern and western France; 
finally the bishops and the more temperate nobles suc- 
ceeded in appeasing them, and Lothaire II. was able to die 
in peace in 629. 

22. Reign of Dagobert I., 629-639. — Dagobert suc- 
ceeded him without opposition. He had a spirit of order 
and justice. Among his counsellors were some of the 
most honoured members of the clergy: Audoenus (Saint 
Ouen), bishop of Eouen; Eligius, the celebrated goldsmith, 
who is so popular as Saint Eloi; among the laity were the 
mayor of the palace of Neustria, Aega, and especially the 
Austrasian mayor. Pippin^ the ablest of the leudes, wise 
in council, fully trustworthy, dear to the people, " be- 
cause he inspired Dagobert with a love of justice.'' 
Dagobert was active and brave. His wars and diplomacy 
were most often successful, whether with the Empire of 
the East and the Lombards, who had just conquered the 
greater part of Italy; or with the Wends or Slovens, a 
Slavonic tribe which was commanded by a merchant of 
Frankish extraction named Samo; or with the Bulgarians; 
or with the Bretons and the Basques. Dagobert died Janu- 
ary 19, 639, after having extended on every side the fron- 
tiers of the Frankish dominion. The Merovingian state 
reached its zenith with him, but its decadence was near 
at hand. He, the " Solomon of the Franks," was tempted 
to idleness and debauchery by the intoxication of power. 
He attempted, it is true, to buy pardon for his disordered 
habits by charities and pious endowments, especially by 



REIGN OF DAGOBERT I., 629-639. 85 

his gifts to the Abbey of Saint Denis, which became pre- 
eminently the royal abbey, and where he was the first 
king to be buried. Dagobert's sons reigned only under 
the guardianship of the mayors of the palace, and after 
them followed the epoch of the faimant kings. We have 
now to survey the political, social, and administrative 
condition of Gaul after the invasions. 



CHAPTER VIL 

INSTITUTIONS OF GAUL AFTER THE INVASIONS.* 

1. The Frankish Kingship and Eoyal Insignia. — The 

king was at the head of the state. Royalty was hereditary 
in the Merovingian family; women were excluded from 
it. The age of majority was not determined, — the Ripu- 
arian law fixed it at fourteen years, the Salic law at 
twelve, — nor the persons to whom should- be confided the 
guardianship of a minor king. Thus Gunthram gov- 
erned in the name of his two nephews, and Dagobert^s 
widow, in the name of her son, Clovis II. Long hair was 
the outer sign of royal race. When Childebert and Lo- 
thaire wished to know if Clotilda preferred to see her 
grandchildren, Clodomir's children, dead or disinherited, 
they asked her to choose between the sword for killing 
or the scissors for shearing; but the Merovingian recov- 

* SouKCES. — The historians previously named. They are collected 
in volumes ii. and iii. of " Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la 
France," begun by dom Bouquet, continued by the Benedictines of the 
Congregation of Saint-Maur, and carried on to-day by the Academic 
des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres. For the Barbarian laws and the col- 
lection of formulas, the " Precis de I'histoire du droit francais," by P. 
YioUet (book !., " Sources" ) furnishes all useful information (1884). 
See also the bibliography of Dahlmann-Waitz named above, and 
Monod, " Bibliographic de I'Histoire de France." 

Literature. — Viollet: " Histoire des Institutions politiques et ad- 
ministrativesde la France." Vol. i., with full bibliographies. Glas- 
son, *' Histoire du droit et des Institutions de la France," vol. ii. 
Fustel de Coulouges, ' ' Histoire des Institutions politiques de 
I'ancienne France." Waltz, "Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte," 
vol. ii. 

86 



TUB POPULAR ASSEMBLIES. 87 

iered his rights to the throne with the growth of his hair. 
The kings assumed imperial insignia in great public cere- 
monials: the golden crown, the sceptre, the chlamj^s, and 
the purple tunic; did they not pretend to be the official 
representatives of the emperors? On the king's death, 
the kingdom was divided between his sons; the daughters, 
and sometimes the widow, of the deceased had their share 
of the treasure; illegitimate children were not debarred 
from the succession. 

2. Character and Extent of the Royal Power. — The 
Merovingians aimed to establish absolute authority, and 
from Lothaire I. to Dagobert they succeeded in this. All 
freemen, Romans or Germans, took the oath of fidelity to 
the king. Among these leudes there were some, more 
powerful, enjoying greater freedom and favour at court, 
who were preeminently the king's leudes. He had the 
right to convoke the freemen for war where and when he 
wished; he levied the Roman tax according to the old 
registers of property. Chilperic I. had them revised in 
579, and increased essentially the amount of the tax. 
After the sudden death of two of his children, Frede- 
gonda cast the registers into the fire and revived the old 
ones. The Franks always felt great repugnance to the 
land tax. The Merovingians revised the old Germanic 
customs, and added certain new dispositions favourable 
to their authority. Like the emperors, they promulgated 
edicts — named variously, constitutions, decrees, precepts, 
etc., without counting numberless charters made out by 
their chancellor's office in favour of individuals, churches, 
or monasteries. 

3. The Popular Assemblies. — The popular assemblies 
could not exist in their old form under these absolute 
kings. The Franks met, armed, in the month of March; 
but these gatherings were merely military reviews. The 



88 OAUL AFTER THE INVASIONS. 

kings still called together general assemblies to draw up 
statements of law, decide important political affairs, or 
judge differences between the kingdoms; but only the 
royal functionaries and the nobles seem to have been 
summoned and to have played an active part in these 
assemblies. An aristocracy of men powerful through 
their riches grew up little by little around royalty, while 
awaiting the moment for controlling and supplanting it. 

4. The Merovingian Palace. The Antrustiones. — Each 
Frankish kingdom had its capital, but the king preferred 
to live at one of his villce, which were vast domains com- 
prising, besides the houses for the king, his officers and 
servants, cultivated land, meadows, hunting forests, work- 
shops, etc. There was the palatium, which signified 
the residence of the king, and the centre of the ad- 
ministration of the state. The persons who lived in the 
palace and ate at the king's table were peculiarly fav- 
oured by law; Eomans or Germans, they had a triple 
mergeld. It was not necessary to be noble. One could 
rise from menial offices to high position, and even to be 
the count of important cities. Those who took a special 
oath of service and fidelity to the king were called am- 
trustiones, and enjoyed numerous favours; they were the 
same as the comitatus of the prince in earlier days. 

5. Officers of the Merovingian Palace. The Mayor and 
the Counts of the Palace. — The officers of the palace bore, 
as during the Eoman epoch, the titles of ministri or 
ministeriales ; in time humble domestic duties became im- 
portant political offices. The mayor of the palace 
(major domus) was first a simple steward. His power in- 
creased rapidly during the sixth and seventh centuries, 
when the aristocracy appropriated the offices of the 
palace as a source of favour and power. He became 
then a viceroy, — and he presided, during the king's ab- 



ROYAL OFFICERS IN THE CIVITAS. 89 

sence, at his tribunal. The counts of the palace per- 
formed judicial functions in the king's tribunal; they 
might also command the troops and share with the 
mayor and the referendary in the supreme control of 
public affairs. The referendary directed the royal 
chancery, which issued edicts and charters, its seal being 
necessary to make an act authentic. A host of lower 
officers were enrolled under these three important per- 
sonages: the seneschal, who directed the servants in the 
personal service of the king; the marshal, chief of the 
stables; the chamberlains, the servants of the bed- 
chambers; the treasurers, who had charge of the furni- 
ture and treasure; the physicians, and all those who were 
employed in the service of the table. 

6. Royal Officers in the Civitas, or the Pagus. — The pa- 
tricians, the dukes, and the counts with their delegates 
were at the head of the local administration. The counts 
were named by the king and held office during his 
pleasure. Their duties, at once political, military, admin- 
istrative, and judicial, were exercised in the territory of 
the former civitas, then called pagus. The dukes' powers 
were also general, but the rank was higher than that of 
count; they were, above everything, military chiefs in the 
frontier countries. The dividing of the empire by fre- 
quent partitions created frontiers everywhere, and thus 
multiplied the number of dukes. In Provence and in 
Burgundy the patrician had the same powers as the duke: 
he was preeminently a military chief, but his title was 
higher. These agents were instructed to treat all in- 
habitants of the pagns kindly, defend widows and 
orphans, rigidly suppress thieving and crime, pay ia 
exactly, each year, to the treasury the money due the 
state. These obligations were too often neglected; the 
chronicles of the time are filled with the pitiable tales of 



90 GAUL AFTER THE INVASIONS. 

official violence. The counts received no salary, but as 
they were given a share of the fines, there was a natural 
temptation to increase them. They often bought their 
offices, and to reimburse themselves they would multiply 
exactions. Moreover, they rose sometimes from low 
condition, and retained the manners of the lower classes. 
In the seventh century they were drawn more often from 
the great landed proprietors of the province. From this 
arose another evil, for they usurped public power and ap- 
propriated the fiscal revenue; they tended to make their 
office hereditary and consequently independent. They 
were heads of a provincial aristocracy. 

7. The Remains of the Municipal Regime. — There were 
some traces of the old municipal organisation in certain 
parts of the country where the Eoman civilisation had 
taken strong root. The large cities of the centre and the 
south had a Senate and curia presided over by a defensor; 
but these officers seem to have been purely judicial, and 
no longer administrative or financial. The adminis- 
trative power belonged to the count, and with him the 
bishop, who became more and more the representative of 
urban interests and the head of the population. With a 
single king for all Gaul there was one administration, 
comprising justice, collection of taxes, and lev3^ing and 
commanding of troops. 

8. Military Service. The Heriban. — All freemen bore 
their own expenses during their military service. Those 
who were not rich enough became dependents of more j 
powerful men, who gave them equipments and food and J, 
secured them a share in the booty. The great proprietors ' 
brought with them, moreover, troops made up of clients 
and liti, who fought with them, and slaves, who, without 
joining in the combat, bore the master's arms, cared for 
the wounded, or buried the dead. An army could not be 



JUSTICE. 91 

levied except by order of the king. He ordered, througK 
the counts, the convocation, or heriban, the violation of 
which resulted in severe penalties. The army was com- 
manded by the king, the dukes, or other high officers. 

9. The Finances. — Before their settlement in Gaul the 
Frankish kings had no other regular revenues than volun- 
tary gifts, fines, and tributes paid by conquered nations. 
After taking the place of the imperial power they appro- 
priated the fiscal revenues, and continued to levy the old 
imposts, while conquests enlarged their domains. Every- 
one was legally subject to the payment of taxes; but ex- 
emptions were frequent, and little by little impoverished 
the kings. 

10. Monetary System. — The monetary system was 
closely linked with the finances. The Franks had gold 
and silver coins. Each solidus in gold was worth intrin- 
sically about thirteen francs, but in values of the present 
day it was worth at least one hundred francs. One-half 
and one-third solidi were made. Silver was more rare; the 
principal coin was the denarius, or penny; it took forty of 
these to make a gold solidus, and tAvelve for a silver one. 
It does not appear that the Merovingians made coins of 
an alloy, but they doubtless continued to use the money 
struck off in profusion by the last emperors. The right 
of minting money belonged to the king. The money, 
coarsely made by coiners, scattered through the country, 
offered a variety of types, but of types more and more 
barbarian. 

11. Justice. The Mallus. — Justice was administered in 
the pagi by the mallus of freemen. The count presided 
and judged, assisted by the racliimhurgi. Criminal trials 
were mostly terminated by an agreement to pay according 
to the provisions of Germanic law, but the Merovingian 
kings attempted to introduce into legislation corporal 



&2 OAUL AFTER THE INVASIONS. 

punishment. The courts, also as guardians of the pub- 
lic welfare and representatives of the king, often inflicted 
bodily penalties both on evil-doers, after a summary trial, 
and on those who disturbed the peace. The king had his 
tribunal also, to which were called the nobles, secular and 
ecclesiastical, living at his court, accused of high treason, 
lese-majesU, and conspiracies against the life of the king 
and his family; appeals from the sentences of the counts 
were also heard there. Many matters, those pertaining 
to the nobles in particular, were judged there from the be- 
ginning. The Merovingian kings tried to prevent wars 
and private vengeance; a decree of Childebert II. forbade 
the relatives of a culprit to pay the fine in his stead. The 
solidarity of the family led to the assumption of payment 
by all, and this solidarity made of individual quarrels 
feuds between two families. Slowly the modern prin- 
ciple was evolved, that the crime should be expiated by 
the one who committed the deed. 

12. Barbarian Laws and Formulas. — The laws in force 
in the tribunals were not the same for all. The Gallo- 
Eomans were judged according to Roman law, the bar- 
barians according to the customs of their nation. The 
Franks had the Salic law and the Ripuarian law, the for- 
mer drawn up at the latest under Clovis^ the latter under 
Dagobert. Among the subjects of the Fraiiks, the Bur- 
gundians had the law which had been compiled by order 
of King Gundobad, who died in 516; the Alemanni, the 
Lex Alamannorum, compiled without doubt during the 
reign of Lothaire IV., between 717 and 719. There are 
also the law of the Visigoths in Spain, of the Bavarians, 
of the Lombards, after their settlement in Italy, and of 
the many people of lower Germany unconquered by the 
Merovingians: the Saxons, the Frisians, the Angles, and 
the Thuringians. To these laws are attached collections 



MEROVINGIAN GOVERNMENT. 95 

of judicial formulas, or blank forms for documents, which 
there might be occasion to draw up in order to authenti- 
cate the rights of the individual; these are very valuable 
to the historian. The oldest was written by the monk 
Marculf in the middle of the seventh century. 

13. Character of the Merovingian Government. Re- 
semblances with and Differences from the Roman System. 
— On the whole, if one is content with the appearance of 
things, the political and administrative organisation of 
Merovingian Gaul resembles on many sides the Roman 
organisation. The Frankish kings aped as much as they 
could the Roman emperors; they tried to keep the financial 
and administrative outlines of old Gaul; they borrowed 
from the imperial chancery a great part of its termin- 
ology. Except for the larger amount of wergeld allowed 
to Franks by their laws (the Frankish wergeld was double 
the Roman), nothing distinguishes in the mass of free- 
men and subjects the Germans from the Gallo-Romans. 
The latter often filled, at the court of barbarian kings^ 
the highest places, for which their intellectual supe- 
riority fitted them. The clergy, brought up among Ro- 
man ideas, furnished the king with scribes for his chan- 
cery and some of his ablest counsellors. Latin was the 
official language. The German conquerors assimilated 
it so well that modern French, derived from the Latin, 
contains scarcely one-tenth part of German words. How- 
ever, although the form of political and administrative 
life remained in great part Roman, the substance of the 
institutions was profoundly modified by the influence of 
Germanic customs on one hand and by new conditions, 
born of the invasions of the barbarians, on the other. De- 
prived of a regular army, incapable of organising an in- 
tricate system of taxes, the Frankish kings could not 
maintain a body of merely civil functionaries, who were 



94 GAUL AFTER THE INVASIONS. 

salaried and dependent on the central anthority. Their 
counts^ uniting all functions in their hands, soon became 
local chiefs, and the kings could not govern except in ac- 
cord with their leudes and counts. Justice, rendered by 
the rachimhiirgi according to precedent and in forms 
purely Germanic, resembled Eoman justice but little. 
But the spirit which animated the political institutions 
of Eome on one side and those of the Franks on the 
other, is what constitutes the great difference. The Eo- 
man Empire rested entirely on an abstract idea of the 
state and the law, equal for all and independent of those 
who represented it. One was a citizen of the Empire 
rather than a subject of the emperor. In the Frankish 
kingdom the personal relationship of man to man took 
the place of this abstraction of the state. Oaths of alle- 
giance bound subjects to king; analagous ties of protec- 
tion and recommendation formed, everywhere, among 
freemen spontaneous groups of voluntary associations. 
The family ties were strong, and in court the accused 
appears surrounded by his relatives, who, as conjurators, 
lent their assistance. Eoyalty, despite the forms of 
popular approbation which accompanied the elevation to 
the throne, was none the less hereditary, and an institu- 
tion entirely Germanic. The kings considered the terri- 
tory and the resources of the state as a private property, 
which their heirs shared after their death. Their au- 
thority was "a force confronted by other forces, not a 
magistracy in the midst of society"; subject to the for- 
tune of one man, it appears " variable and unbridled, 
to-day immense, to-morrow nothing, strong or weak, ac-j 
cording as the fortune of war was for or against 
them." 

14. Origin of the Aristocracy. — When royal authority 
is uncertain, law has no sanction; the individual must de 



i 



THE 3IER0VINGIAN VILLA. 95 

fend himself. This can only be done effectually by asso- 
ciating with others. The weakest therefore placed them- 
selves under the protection and in the dependence of the 
strongest. Hence arose new relations among men, the 
slow disappearance of the ancient personal liberty as it 
was understood among the Germans, and the formation 
of a new nobility. The Germanic nobility of which Taci- 
tus speaks had already disappeared at the time of the in- 
vasions; the senatorial nobility, still rich and powerful in 
Clovis's time, expired during the intestine warfare of the 
sixth century, or sought refuge in the Church, there to 
die out. To replace them the nobles of the Frankish 
kingdoms, with many Gallo-Romans, constituted an aris- 
tocracy of functionaries and proprietors, largely in the 
pay of the kings. The repeated partitions of the Frank- 
ish kingdom, by creating, at two different times, four 
kingdoms and four royal courts, multiplied these officers; 
the numerous minorities of the kings of the seventh cen- 
tury expanded their power; they usurped the crown lands 
and weakened in so far the royalty which they had 
created. 

15. The Merovingian Villa. — The nobles drew their 
subsistence and power from the possession of land, as the 
Gallo-Eoman proprietors had done. The Merovingian 
villa remained what it had been during the preceding 
epoch. " Within a large farm surrounded by stockades 
and moats the master with his immediate family made 
his dwelling. The cabins of the domestic and farming 
serfs were built around; beyond stretched the fields of 
the low class freeholders, the clients; they farmed these 
fields on their own account, paying rent and rendering a 
fixed amount of service. Adjoining the villa were the 
lands conceded to the companions of the master, to the 
soldiers who fought with him, and were ready on any occa- 



96 GAUL AFTER THE INVASION'S, 

sion to respond to his call. The}' had a right to support 
as long as they were faithful and serviceable." 

16. Immunity. — The kings often granted to the large 
proprietors, secular and ecclesiastical, the privilege of 
the immunity, which released them from administrative 
authority. In such a case the king's agent was officially 
commanded, on each new reign, not to trespass on the 
property of the holder of an immunity in order to ren- 
der justice, maintain police surveillance, or levy an im- 
post. The king hoped to gain a double advantage from 
these concessions; he would enfeeble the power of his 
own agents, whose insubordination he feared, and secure, 
as he thought, the fidelity of those thus favoured. He 
counted more on the faithfulness of personal followers 
than on the devotion of subjects to the state. He abdi- 
cated, in fact, and public authority passed little by little 
into the hands of the nobles. 

17. The Merovingian Church. — The Church alone stood 
iirm in the midst of a society which was developing and 
changing in the midst of ruins. It had favoured Clovis, 
the convert, and remained faithful to his dynasty. The 
"bishops were the principal counsellors of the kings dur- 
ing the sixth and seventh centuries, and they sometimes 
-exerted authority in their diocese which neutralised that 
■of the counts. They were regularly elected by the clergy 
and inhabitants of the city, with the approbation of the 
metropolitan and provincial bishops; however, the king 
Teserved the right of confirming the election, often nomi- 
nated his own candidates, by agreement or forcibly, and 
converted his intervention into a right of appointment. 
The bishops gained in favour what they lost in inde- 
pendence. They acquired immunity for church lands, at 
times exemption from imposts for their city. The 
monasteries increased rapidly during the sixth and 



SAINT GREGORY AND SAINT LEGER. 97 

seventh centuries; protected by kings and nobles who 
granted them lands and immunities, they grew in riches 
and power. Subject to severe rules, particularly that of 
Saint Benedict of Xursia, which was introduced from 
Italy into Gaul in the seventh century, dwelling together 
in vast convents under the dominion of their abbots, the 
monks taught the ignorant, superstitious population of the 
country, gave themselves to study, or went out to preach 
Christianity to the pagan barbarians. They formed a 
separate clerical body, the regular clergy, contrasted with 
the secular clergy, who were the priests living in cities 
and villages. Abbots and bishops met in diocesan coun- 
cils held in each diocese under the presidency of the 
bishop; in provincial councils, under the metropolitans; 
in national councils in each kingdom. Kings and their 
high functionaries sat later in these national councils, 
which before long made decisions which became laws of 
the state. The Christian Church, thus strongly organ- 
ised, exerted a great influence over barbarian society, in 
which it alone stood for order, justice, and charity. 

18. Saint Gregory of Tours, and Saint Leger. — The 
most violent of Merovingian kings felt the ascendancy of 
the virtue and intellectual superiority of the noted Gallo- 
Eoman bishops in the sixth century; they trembled be- 
fore the supernatural power attributed to them. The 
last representatives of important senatorial families 
sought refuge in the Church and in episcopal functions; 
in this way they exercised a magistracy which worked for 
peace in the midst of a society where the most brutal pas- 
sions were let loose. Gregory, bishop of Tours (573-593), 
played the part of counsellor to the kings Sigibert, Gun- 
thram, and Childebert, and awed fierce Chilperic into 
respectful terror. He not only combated his fantastic 
theology, and told him that only fools would accept his 



98 GAUL AFTER THE INVASIONS. 

doctrines on the Trinity^, but he defended in open council 
Pretextatus, bishop of Eouen, accused of high treason. 
As the king threatened to stir up Tours against him, he 
answered proudly: " You do not know whetlier I am un- 
just or not. He alone who penetrates the secret heart 
knows my conscience. Let the people cry out falsely 
against me, it matters little; it is known that you incite 
them, and on you, not on me, will rest the blame." 
Gre'gory^s resolution awed Chilperic, who received him 
later as a friend, showed him his treasures, and only let 
him depart after receiving his benediction. In the epis- 
copal city Gregory was the protector and father of his 
flock. He defended them from Count Leudast's violence; 
caused the fugitives to be respected who sought the right 
of asylum in the cathedral or the monastery of Saint 
Martin; fed with his own hands the children who flocked 
round him, and bore them in his arms when they were ill. 
He intervened in the bloody quarrels of the Franks in his 
diocese, presiding at court with the count, and sacrific- 
ing Church treasure in order to terminate the crimes 
which the right of vengeance perpetuated between hostile 
families. Similar characters were not rare in the sixth 
century. The}^ were more so a century later. With the 
introduction of Franks into episcopal dignities the sur- 
rounding barbarism penetrated the Church. The bishop 
of Autun, Leger (659-678), whose partisans canonised him 
after he had been tortured to death, a victim to his rival 
Ebroin, was merely a chief of the Burgundian and x\us* 
trasian aristocracy combating the Neustrian kings. He 
was a pure barbarian, cruel and greedy of power. The 
contrast between these two men tells much of the 
progress of barbarism in the sixth and seventh centuries. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

THE EOMAN" EMPIRE OF THE EAST IN" THE SIXTH ' 

CENTURY.* 

1. The Successors of Theodosius the Great, 395-518.— 

"While the successors of Theodosius in the "West had 
thus let Ganl, Spain, Africa, and Italy almost entirely fall 
into the hands of the barbarians, the Greek Empire, after 
a period of insignificance and weakness, found in the 

* Sources. — Most of tlie Greek historians of the Eastern Empire 
are gathered into the two principal collections of Byzantine his. 
torians: the so-called collection of the Louvre, " Byzantinse historiaB 
Scriptores," published at Paris from 1644 to 1711, in 39 volumes in 
folio, and that of Bonn, "Corpus historiae Byzantinge," commenced by 
Niebuhr (1826), the latter was mostl}'- continued by Ern. Bekker, but 
it is still unfinished. Many of these historians are translated in the 
*' Histoire de Constantinople" by President Cousin. Paris, 1672, 8 
volumes in 4. " L'Essai de Chronographie byzantine," b}" E. de 
Muralt (1857-75) gives year for year a statement of facts with reference 
to the sources. For Justinian's time the principal historians are Pro- 
copius of Cesarea, Agathias, and Corippus. Tlie latter is a Latin 
poet, author of a poem in four cantos, giving circumstantial details 
of the court of Constantinople. Procopius' works have been col- 
lected by Dindorf, 3 volumes (1833-1838). The " Glossarium ad 
scriptores mediae et infirmae graecitatis," by Du Cange, is an impor- 
tant work for the explanation of Greek authors. 

Literature. — Hertzberg, " Geschichte der byzantiner und des 
osmanischen Reiches," in Oncken's " Allgemeine Geschichte"; 
Bury, "The Later Roman Empire"; Drapeyron. " L'Empereur 
Heraclius et I'Empire Byzantin au VII'^"; Diehl, " L' Administration 
Byzantine dans I'Exarchat de Ravenne " ; " L'Afrique Byzantine " ; 
and ** Justinieu et la Civilisation Byzantine." 

99 



100 THE ROMAN EMPIRE OF THE EAST. 

sixth century enough vigour to undertake to reconstruct 
the old Eoman power in the Mediterranean basin. 

Arcadius, the oldest son of Theodosius the Great^ died 
in 408, leaving a child of seven years, Theodosius II. 
The new reign was never anything more than a long 
minority. Under the guardianship of his sister Pul- 
cheria, who lived in the imperial palace, as in a monas- 
tery, Theodosius failed to learn how to govern. He 
lacked the character of a leader of the state; he only suc- 
ceeded in assuming the attitude of one. He went 
through official ceremonies with dignity; in private he 
passed his time painting, sculpturing, making exquisite 
copies of manuscripts; hence his title, " The Callig- 
rapher." But he should be accorded the merit of having 
codified all the imperial constitutions promulgated since 
Constantine's time, and this Theodosian Code, so precious 
to history, sufficed to immortalise his name. His brother- 
in-law, the brave Marcian, Pulcheria's husband, only occu- 
pied the throne for a brief space (450-457); the family of 
the great Theodosius died out with him. His successors, 
Leo I., Zeno, and Anastasius, deserve respect for their 
efforts to construct an army recruited from among 
their subjects, and not from among the barbarians, but 
they could not prevent the Ostrogoths from mastering 
Italy. With Justin I. and his nephew Justinian the 
Empire assumed a vigorous offensive. 

2. Justin I., 518-527.— Justin I. (518-527), peasant 
of Illyria, was first shepherd, then soldier. His cour- 
age gradually raised him to the highest ranks in the 
army. On the throne, which he seized at Anastasius's 
death, he preserved the habits of his early station; he 
was untutored and lacked the talents of a statesman. He 
had his nephew Upravda, a peasant like himself, carefully 
taught; then he adopted him, named him Justinian, and 



THE EMPRESS THEODORA. 101 

associated him with him in the Empire. Some months 
later Justinian^ succeeded him without dispute; he was 
then forty-five years old. 

3. Justinian. Character and Policy. — He was then a 
mature man. Without having a creative mind, he had a 
clear conception of his duties, and knew how to fulfil 
them. His task was arduous. It was to restore order in 
minds torn by political and religious passions, recon- 
struct imperial dominion in the Mediterranean world, 
strengthen the frontiers, and perfect the system of politi- 
cal and administrative institutions. Seconded by good 
generals and able ministers he accomplished this pro- 
gramme with unquestionable success. 

4. The Empress Theodora. — One of his first acts was to 
associate with him in his power his wife Theodora. If 
Procopius, a writer of the time, is to be believed in his 
secret " History," a collection, made with perfidious care, 
of all the scandalous rumours at the court, Theodora was 
the daughter of a wild beast-tamer, Akakios, whose ofiice 
was to feed the bears at the circus in Constantinople; she 
led the life of a boisterous wandering actress, until, fallen 
into deep poverty, she won by magic charms Justinian's 
heart. There are two facts in all this: Theodora was of 
obscure birth, like Justinian, and she was poor when he 
married her; two unpardonable defects in the eyes of the 
sceptical and keen aristocrats of Constantinople. She 
was small, somewhat pale, with brilliant, alert eyes, which 
lent charm to her features. According to the secret 
** History " even, her bearing on the throne was always 
dignified. She loved display, but had a strong mind, and 
counselled wisely; more than once in the preamble to his 
laws, Justinian repeated that he had consulted "his 
revered wife." She bore the title of Augusta, and was 
truly an empress. 



102 THE BOMAN EMPIRE OF THE EAST. 

5. The Games and Factions at Constantinople. The 
Nika Sedition. — The Empire's capital was torn by fac- 
tions; political passions^ banished from the arena of the 
state, found a refuge in the hippodrome. There each 
political and religious party had its tavourites and its 
distinctive colourS;, borrowed from paganism; the Blues, 
who had taken the colours of Poseidon, the Greens, who 
wore Aphrodite's. Under the emperor Anastasius the 
Greens had been in favour; they sat nearest the prince at 
the theatre. Under Justin, who had despoiled Anas- 
tasius'^ nephews, Hypatius and Pompeius, of the purple, 
the Blues regained the advantage, and displayed through- 
out the city that insolence which the assurance of im- 
punity lent them. In the circus one day, in 532, the 
Greens complained violently to the emperor, and, not ob- 
taining justice, they rose in arms. Their war-cry, Nika, 
(" Be victorious! "), was heard on all sides. The prefect's 
mansion was burned; Hypatius was proclaimed emperor. 
Justinian planned flight, but Theodora restored his cour- 
age. By a successful disposal of troops they enclosed 
the insurgents and their emperor in the circus; the sol- 
diers then entered and killed all. Thirty thousand per- 
sons are said to have been massacred. This harsh lesson 
smothered, but did not extinguish, the passions. Four- 
teen years later blood was again shed for a like reason. 

On the establishment of quiet in the capital Justinian 
began his foreign wars. The rapid decadence of the bar- 
barian kingdQms of Africa, Italy, and Spain facilitated 
his plans. 

6. Conquest of Africa. End of the Vandal Kingdom, 
534. — He appeared in Africa as the defender of the ortho- 
dox faith against the usurper Gelimer, an Arian. A smalll 
army of not more than ten thousand infantry and fivei 
thousand horse, commanded, however, by an able general. 



CONQUEST OF ITALY. 103 

Belisarius, had but to appear to overthrow Gaiseric's 
work. Gelimer, beaten near Tricameron, not far from 
Carthage, was surrounded in his retreat on Mount Pap- 
pua and forced to surrender. Belisarius carried him 
prisoner to Constantinople, where Justinian awarded a 
triumph to his general, an honour which for five cen- 
turies had been reserved for emperors alone. Among 
the precious objects which passed in review before the 
crowd of Byzantium was the treasure from the temple of 
Jerusalem, which Titus had brought to Rome and Gai- 
seric had removed to Carthage. Justinian returned it to 
Jerusalem. He crowned Belisarius's glory by naming 
him sole consul for the following 3^ear. 

7. Conquest of Italy. End of the O^rogothic King- 
dom, 555. — The Goths' turn came after the Vandals'. 
The grandson and successor of the great Theodoric, 
Athalaric, died from excesses in 534. Justinian then in- 
tervened, under pretext of avenging morals and religion, 
but he found a less easy task in Italy than in Africa (535). 
It required not less than nineteen campaigns to conquer 
the Goths. Belisarius failed in the undertaking. Par- 
ses, victor at Taginge, at the foot of the Apennines, be- 
tween Perouse and Ancona, followed the last Gothic king, 
Teias, to Vesuvius, killed him and destroyed his army 
(554). In the meanwhile Xarses's success was threat- 
ened by a Prankish invasion led by two of Theodebald's 
lieutenants. But this was destroyed by the climate and 
the sword of Byzantine soldiers. At the end of 555 
Narses remained unquestioned master of the Peninsula. 

8. Italy Profits Little by the Fall of the Ostrogoths.— 
Thus ended the Gothic dominion. Among all the bar- 
barian peoples who had occupied Italy, the Goths had 
distinguished themselves by gentleness, toleration, and an 
aptitude to receive Roman civilisation. Later their 



104 THE ROMAN EMPIRE OF THE EAST. 

merits were forgotten. They were spoken of as a people 
without laws and without taste; the architecture and the 
writing of the Middle Ages was condemned in the one 
word, Gothic. To them was imputed the destruction of 
the antique monuments of Eome, which were lost, in 
reality, by gross carelessness, which left them the prey of 
builders of churches and fortresses. The Byzantine con- 
quest was as harmful to Italy as the Gothic domination. 
Narses, given the most comprehensive powers, attempted 
to revive the old administration; behind him reappeared 
the Eoman extortioners. After twenty years of furious 
wars the country was drained to fill the coffers of the 
fiscal agents, or to satisfy the general's greed. 

9. The Greeks Seize a Part of Spain from the Visigoths, 
554. — The troops, left free by the termination of the 
wars in Italy, were mostly sent into Spain. There also, 
anarchy invited and favoured foreign intervention. 
After the family of the Balti had died out with Amalaric 
(531), the Visigoths had kings of no one dynasty. These 
generally usurped the throne; many were assassinated; 
the crown seldom remained more than three generations 
in the same family. Moreover, this insecure royalty had 
a formidable enemy in Catholicism. Subdued and perse- 
cuted by the Arian Goths, the Catholics hated their mas- 
ters. They supported the uprising of a noble, Athanagild, 
who demanded the support of the Byzantines in order to 
dethrone Agila. The patrician Liberius, who was imme- 
diately sent by Justinian, helped the usurper to seize^« 
the power, but took possession, for the benefit of the^B 
Empire, of the principal fortresses of the southern. ^' 
coast. Master of Ceuta and the lower valley of the 
Guadalquivir, he held the pillars of Hercules; Justinian 
might now boast with some truth that the Mediterranean 
belonged to him. 'Mare nostrum! 



CHOSROES THE GREAT. 105 

In Spain, Italy, and Africa Justinian had profited by 
his enemies' faults in religious and political matters; in 
the East and North he was less fortunate, because circum- 
stances were less favourable. 

10. The Greeks Held in Check on the Eastern Frontier. 
— The eastern frontier of the Empire, from Trebizond 
on the Black Sea to Circesium on the Euphrates, was con- 
stantly menaced by the Persians. To hold them in check 
Theodosius and his successors had erected fortresses and 
acquired the good-will of small tribes, more or less inde- 
pendent, which were settled between the two empires: 
the Christian Lazi, dwelling in ancient Colchis in the 
basin of the Phasis, who commanded the principal defile 
of the Caucasus; the tribe of the Ghassanides, of Arabian 
race, masters of the extensive oases scattered through the 
desert between Syria and the Euphrates; and the Bedouirt 
tribes of Arabia Petrsea, etc. The Persian Sassanides. 
coveted Syria, so as to have an outlet to the Mediter- 
ranean, and treated with the Lazi to obtain an opening 
to the Black Sea, the highway to Constantinople. The- 
faithful Christians and the fire-worshippers kept each 
other at bay, alternating in successes and reverses. Jus- 
tinian, absorbed in his Mediterranean wars, had twice to 
pay tribute to Chosroes Nushirvan. A treaty was con- 
cluded with the Christian negus of Abyssinia in hopes- 
of stirring up an unexpected enemy, but nothing came 
of it. 

11. Chosroes the Great. — In Chosroes Justinian had a 
formidable rival. He was one of the greatest sovereigns^ 
Iran ever had. An unscrupulous politician, he made sure 
of his power through the death of two of his brothers. 
This crime, readily condoned by Orientals, did not 
affect his title of Just; and he affected justice, leniency, 
and humanity. He shed tears over the sacking of 



106 THE ROMAN EMPIRE OF THE EAST. 

Antioch, which was done by his orders. As a literary 
prince he founded an academy near his capital^ Ctesi- 
phon; he had translated into Persian the works of Aris- 
totle and the Hindn fables of Bidpai, imitated by Phsedrns 
and La Fontaine. He is supposed to have borrowed from 
the Hindus the game of chess, invented " to warn kings 
that their strength lies in the strength of their subjects/' 
Although fighting the Empire, he imitated it. After 
the surrender of Antioch he took pleasure in the games 
of the circus, and learning that Justinian favoured the 
Blues, he espoused the party of the Greens. He was an 
able commander, and measured himself several times, 
and to his own credit, with Justinian's best general, 
Belisarius. 

12. The Greeks Checked on the Frontier of the Danube. 
Slavs, Bulgarians, and Avars. — The departure of Theo- 
doric with the Goths for Italy had left a vacant place 
on the Danube, and opened one of the doors of the Em- 
pire. The Slavs passed through, after the Germans. In 
the sixth century these people had just begun to renounce 
their nomadic life; they had begun to cultivate wheat. 
As pagans, they adored the forces of nature, chiefly the 
god of thunder and lightning. They raised to him 
wooden statues, with silver heads and golden beards, on a 
hill at Kief! and at Novgorod near a river; they sacrificed 
animals and human victims to him. They were bold and 
impetuous in battle, humane to their prisoners of war, 
and hospitable in times of peace. Later came the Bul- 
garians, of Finnish origin, who crossed the Danube on the 
ice, in 539. They found the passes in the Balkans un- 
kept, the wall of Anastasius, which shut off the peninsula 
of Constantinople, overthrown by an earthquake; they 
approached even the walls of the capital. Belisarius 
stopped them, and Justinian opposed to them the Avars. 



INTERIOR GOVERNMENT. 107 

They were also Finnish, allied to the Huns of the fifth 
century and the Hungarians of the tenth. Their en- 
campment was near the Caucasus. An embassy which 
they sent to Constantinople returned so filled with ad- 
miration for the capital of the Empire that they eagerly 
offered their services to Justinian. The latter was far 
from refusing them; it was to his interest to wear the 
barbarians out with wars among themselves. The Avars- 
fell upon the Bulgarians and the Slavs; they found their 
way to the Elbe, and then returned to the Danube, where 
they remained until Charlemagne's time. 

13. Importance of Justinian's Reign from a Military 
and Diplomatic Point of View. — Taking Justinian's wars- 
together and looking at them from a distance, it is im- 
possible to misconstrue their importance. There had 
been no period so brilliant since the death of Theodosius. 
Since 476, when there was a sole emperor for the two 
parts of the Eoman state, the Caesars of Byzantium had 
been obliged to content themselves with the semblance 
of the office, so far as the West is concerned. The em- 
peror was by right supreme master (Basileus), in reality 
the barbarian kings were independent. Justinian sub- 
dued some, and frightened others; by means of diplomacy, 
and of his armies and fleet, he controlled effectively the 
Mediterranean world. He is reproached for not reserv- 
ing all his forces to meet the Persians and the Bulgarians; 
it is forgotten that he was not the emperor of Constanti- 
nople solely, but that he belonged to the whole Empire 
pitted against barbarism. 

14. Interior Government. Division of the Subject. — 
The interior government of the Empire was equally 
effective. His policy, quite in conformity with imperial 
traditions, may be comprised under the short formula: 
one state, one Church, one law. 



108 THE ROMAN EMPIRE OF THE EAST. 

15. Religious Character of the Imperial Despotism, 
Political Unity. — Justinian maintained, to the highest 
degree, the loftiness of his rank. All which emanated 
from the emperor being divine, the laws were his " divine 
oracles," the subjects invoked his ^' eternity." The port 
of Byzantium, the imperial palace, the diadem, the letter 
J, more than twelve majestracies, his books of law, all 
were called Justinian. He brooked no other authority in 
the state than his own. Under pretext of economy he 
suppressed in 541 the consulate in the East; that in the 
West had not existed since Belisarius's time, in 535. He 
conferred on the bishops weighty administrative and judi- 
cial privileges, but he did not relax his hold upon them; 
the bishop of Eome, before entering on his functions, 
must, like others, await the consent of the emperor or of 
the governor of Eavenna. 

16. Religious Unity. Dissenters are Punished. — As 
philosopher and theologian he took part in the religious 
quarrels which divided men's minds. The Greeks had al- 
ways liked to dispute on the idea of God, the origin of 
the world, and the nature of man. The Byzantines dis- 
cussed the recent doctrine of the Trinity. A priest of 
Alexander, Arius (280-336), having maintained that the 
son of God was neither eternal nor equal to the Father 
(homoiousios), the Nicene council, the first one of the 
ecumenical councils (325), decreed, to the contrary, that 
the Son was of the same substance (homousios) as the 
Father. Arianism was persecuted throughout the Em- 
pire, from Theodosius the Great on; the more so since it 
was adopted by the barbarians. A bishop of Con- 
stantinople, Nestorius, taught that the divine person in 
Jesus Christ should be separated from the human person; 
the council of Ephesus (431) decided that Christ was both 
man and God. ISTestorius was exiled. His partisans, 



PAGAN PHILOSOPHY INTERDICTED. 109 

driven out by Theodosius II., took refuge in Persia, where 
the sect has persisted down to our days. Eutyches, abbot 
of a convent at Constantinople, going to the other ex- 
treme, preached the doctrine of the unity of nature in 
Christ; the Monophysites, who accepted it, were con- 
demned in 451. They then separated from the Catholic 
Church and formed a body which spread throughout 
Egypt, Armenia, Syria, and Mesopotamia; an important 
move, which prepared the way for the political separation 
of these peoples at the time of the Arabian invasion. 
Justinian is accused of having persecuted all these here- 
tics. AVas he wrong to try to silence quarrels so inimical 
to the unity of the Empire? Heraclius did the same; 
but wishing to conciliate all, he declared that if there 
were two natures in Jesus, there could be but one will; 
and gave rise thus to the heresy of the Monothelites, 
who were condemned by the council of Constantinople 
(680). The Maronites on Mount Lebanon professed thi& 
belief until their union with the Eoman Church in the 
twelfth century. 

17. Pagan Philosophy Interdicted. — Compared with 
these furious disputes, the antique pagan philosophy was 
henceforth treated with indifference. It was still pub- 
licly taught, especially at Athens; but the later official 
professors of paganism, Proclus among others, who was 
the most illustrious, had almost no followers. After 
Theodosius II. they were not paid; Justinian forbade 
them to teach. The last of the Greek philosophers 
sought refuge with Chosroes, but finally they were allowed 
to return to their fatherland, where they died in ob- 
scurity, leaving no successors or followers. Thus the 
same sovereign who officially suppressed the Roman con- 
sulate stamped out Greek philosophy. The ancient Graeco- 
Latin world was giving place to the Byzantine. Justinian 



110 THE ROMAN EMPIRE OF TEE EAST, 

obtained religious unity with difficulty, and it was bui 
temporary. To offset this he realised unity of legisla- 
tion, and this is his greatest glory. 

18. Legislative Unity. The Corpus Juris Civilis. — 
Down to the sixth century the sources of Roman law were 
scattered. They comprised the laws made in the public 
assemblies of ancient Eome, the decrees of the Senate, 
the edicts of the pnetors, the books of the great juris- 
consults of the Empire, and the private collections of im- 
perial rescripts which Gregory and Hermogenes had com- 
piled in the fourth century. Theodosius II. had already 
tried to bring order into this chaotic mass; the Theodosian 
Code, promulgated in 438, is made up of the Constitu- 
tions of the Christian emperors. Justinian enlarged on 
the idea. 1. He directed ten jurisconsults, among whom 
were the patrician, John of Cappadocia, Tribonian, quaes- 
tor of the palace, and Theophilus, professor of law at 
Constantinople, to unite in one code the laws enacted by 
Ms predecessors. To this Codex justinianeus (529) he 
added successively fifty new constitutions. He had a 
new edition made, the only one which we possess, named 
the Codex repetitce prcelectionis, which was completed in 
534. The edicts rendered by Justinian in the second 
part of his reign were added to the Code under the divi- 
sion Novellce, and were considered " authentic additions " 
(Authenticce). 2. A second commission of sixteen scholars, 
presided over by Tribonian, undertook the Digest, or 
Pandects, a collection of decisions or opinions taken from 
the books of the forty principal Roman jurisconsults who 
had been " patented," that is to say, authorised by the 
emperors to give opinions which should have the force 
of law in the tribunals. 3. As the Code and the Pan- 
dects presented many difficulties to students, Tribonian,; 
with two auxiliaries, drew up a manual of jurisprudence id] 



PUBLIC WORKS ORDERED BY JUSTINIAN. Ill 

four books, composed on the plan of the Institutes of 
Gaius; it was the celebrated treatise, the Institutes, which 
is studied to-day in all the law schools of the Christian 
world. Justinian attributed the accomplishment of this 
work " to the aid and grace of God," wished it to be con- 
sidered sacred, as an "eternal oracle," and forbade the 
addition to it of any commentary. 

19. Importance of Justinian's Legislation. — These 
three collections, the Code, the Digest, and the Institutes, 
form the Corpus juris civilis, which transmitted to the 
societies sprung from the ruins of the Roman state the- 
principles of Eoman jurisprudence, that is to say, the idea 
that the free man is a part of a society founded on respect 
for law; that the defence of persons and property rests 
with the state, and not with the individual; that the state 
is a trained hierarchy of functionaries obeying one chief, 
absolute and uncontrolled. These fundamental prin- 
ciples endured in the East as long as the Empire. Re- 
vised under Basil the Macedonian and his son Leo the 
Philosopher, Justinian legislation was in force when the 
Turks seized Constantinople (1453); but its influence was 
not confined to the East. Justinian established the au- 
thority of these books as law for Italy by a " pragmatic " 
edict of the year 559. The revolutions which convulsed 
the peninsula after the emperor's death did not destroy 
his work. The study of Roman jurisprudence, carried on 
feebly during the first centuries of the Middle Ages, re- 
vived in the eleventh century with amazing vigour, and 
revealed to the barbarian nations the modern idea of the 
state founded on law. Justinian's will and the science of 
Tribonian thus accomplished one of the most fruitful 
works for the benefit of mankind. 

20. Public Works Ordered by Justinian. — Justinian 
was a great builder as well as legislator. The official 



112 THE ROMAN EMPIRE OF TEE EAST. 

historian of his reign, Procopius, described in eight 
books, with a superabundance of detail, the edifices, civil, 
religious, and military, which this tireless builder raised 
throughout the Empire. In Constantinople and its 
suburbs not less than twenty-five churches were built and 
dedicated to the Virgin and the saints; the most cele- 
brated is Saint Sophia {Haghia Sophia, that is, Jesus 
€hrist, the Divine Word), which to-day, near the Golden 
Horn, still rears aloft its bold and massive towers. The 
pagan temples were despoiled to adorn this marvel of 
Byzantine art, by the architects Anthemius of Tralles and 
Isidore of Miletas. Justinian boasted of having sur- 
passed Solomon's temple. Saint Vitalises at Eavenna was 
begun in 547 by the archbishop Ecclesius on the model of 
Saint Sophia. Marbles, precious metals, and all the re- 
sources of mosaics were expended on these buildings, 
which are monuments of the emperor's ostentatious piety. 
Travellers, pilgrims and mendicants appreciated more 
perhaps the inns and hospitals built for them, the con- 
vents which received them and sent them forward on their 
way. The emperor rebuilt, in part, his palace, destroyed 
by the Nika insurrection. The riches heaped up within 
it were surpassed by Theodora, in the superb palace, the 
Heraion, on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus. Jus- 
tinian multiplied fortifications for the defence of the Em- 
pire, as had been done before him in Dacia, beyond the 
Ehine, and in Brittany. From Belgrade to the Black Sea, 
all along the Danube, extended a chain of more than 
eighty strongholds; six hundred were repaired or built 
in Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace; the pass 
of Thermopylae, the isthmus of Corinth, the Chersonesus 
of Thrace, were enclosed by intrenchments, and the 
wall of Anastasius completed. In Asia the passes of 
the Caucasus were guarded, the cities of Armenia 




ii 



JUSTINIAN DESERVES SURNAME OF GREAT, 113 

and Mesopotamia provided with towers, and a line of 
communication kept open between them by means 
of detached forts. Justinian is reproached with having 
buried vast sums in these excavations, stones, and heaps 
of bricks; but what nation does differently in the Europe 
of to-day? However, other works were more productive; 
the highways kept in repair, the bridges thrown over the 
rivers, favoured commerce; silk, introduced into the Em- 
pire, was a new source of wealth, the monopoly of which 
Justinian reserved for himself, it is true. Provinces were 
better protected and paid their taxes more easily, even 
after the accumulated disasters of pest, famine, and earth- 
quake. 

21. Calamities of the Empire. — Justinian's last years 
were disturbed by uprisings and a conspiracy against his 
life. The former were quelled and the latter was fore- 
stalled. Belisarius was suspected of being in the plot, 
and the illustrious general was arrested and his property 
confiscated. Doubtless he was innocent, for later he 
was set at liberty. He was reinstated in his dignities and 
a part of his property, but his enjoyment of them was 
short-lived; he died in 561. Justinian soon followed him; 
he died in 565, aged eighty-four. 

22. Justinian Deserves the Surname of Great. — ^Jus- 
tinian was an unusual man. The qualities his historians 
have praised in him — his noble bearing, affable speech, 
purity and abstemiousness of habits, zeal for work, taste 
for architecture and music, poetry, and philosophy, the- 
ology and law, love of order and discipline — reveal a 
gifted nature, capable of. accomplishing great works, with 
good auxiliaries. With generals like Belisarius and 
Narses, ministers like John of Cappadocia and Tribonian, 
he revived the tradition of the emperors of the second and 
fourth centuries; but the Empire had too many enemies 



114 THE ROMAN EMPIRE OF THE EAST 

to remain long at the point to which he raised it. H^ 
tried to bring back its ancient splendour, but only suc- 
ceeded in casting a last ray of glory over its downfall. 

23. The Greek Empire after Justinian Contracts its 
Frontiers. — Between the deaths of Justinian and Herac- 
lius (565-641) the frontiers were repeatedly contracted. 
Heraclius checked^ it is true^ the advance of the Per- 
sians and forced them to accept a burdensome treaty, but 
he was in turn vanquished by the Mussulmans, who seized 
the fairest Oriental provinces. The Avar auxiliaries be- 
sieged Constantinople on the north, bringing with them 
a horde of Bulgarians. They were repulsed, but the Bul- 
garians returned to the charge and established themselves, 
definitely (679) in the Balkan peninsula, where they 
have remained to this day. One century after Justinian 
the Danube had ceased to be the northern boundary of 
the Empire. In the west the retreat of the Byzantines 
was more rapid. The Visigoths, in Spain, rescued from 
anarchy by Leovigild (568-586), assumed the offensive; 
in 582 Seville was taken by assault and Cordova capitu- 
lated. Reccared (586-601) took a decided step when he 
embraced Catholicism; the orthodox Spaniards had hence- 
forth no need of the Byzantines. Swinthila seized their 
last possessions (628), and, first of the Gothic kings, he 
reigned alone in the Iberian peninsula. And finally Italy 
was invaded by the Lombards not long after Justinian's 
death. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

THE LAST INVASIONS AND THE PAPACY — THE LOMBAEDS 
AND GREGORY THE GREAT — THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND 
MONASTICISM.* 

1. The last Invasions, and the Papacy. Division of 
the Subject. — At the time that Justinian's efforts to re- 
construct the ancient imperial unity failed, a develop- 
ment of greatest consequence was going on in the West. 
The bishop of Eome, the Pope, was becoming a power to 
be reckoned with henceforth. Various causes led up to 
this result. In the first place, the reverence which Chris- 
tian devotion paid to the successors of the holy apostles, 
Peter and Paul, placed the popes in a commanding situa- 
tion, even in the eyes of the Orientals. The necessity 
for a supreme judicial authority in the Church gave them 
a preeminence in jurisdiction, which was in time to become 
a universal headship. The misfortunes of the Empire 
favoured this development. The Pope reaped the fruits of 

* Sources. — The historian of the Lombards was a priest of Lom- 
bard origin, Paul, son of Warnefried, who lived in the eighth century. 
His "Historia Langobardoriim " is published by G. Waitz in the 
•* Monumenta Germanise Historica." To these should be added the 
critical studies of Bethmann (1851), Dahn (1876), Mommsen, etc., 
which are analyzed in " Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittel- 
alter," by W. V^attenbach (sixth edition, 1894). For the Anglo- 
Saxons, the principal source is " Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglo- 
rum," by Bede the Venerable, in the eighth century. The best edi- 
tion is that of Ch. Plummer (2 vols., Oxford, 1896). Add the 
"Chronica minora," published by Th. Mommsen ("Monumenta 
Germanise Historica, 1894) and the texts collected in volume 1. of 
** Monumenta historica britannica." The letters of Gregory the 

115 



116 THE LAST INVASIONS AND TEE PAPACY. 

a double invasion: that of the Lombards in Italy, which,. 
by separating Eome liora the Greek empire, made way 
for the political freedom of the Papacy; and that of the 
Anglo-Saxons in Britain, which made possible its moral 
ascendency in the West through the development which 
monasticism there underwent, and the fidelity of the 
Anglo-Saxon Church to the Holy See. 

2. The Lombards Before their Settlement in Italy. — 
The Lombards, Langobardi, had settled in Pannonia 
after the Goths left; later, allied with the Gepidae, they 
had spread through the valley of the Theiss. They 
offered their services to Justinian in his wars in Italy 
against the Goths. Many were enlisted by Narses, whilst 
others pillaged independently the Italian slope of the 
Adriatic. The remainder, the bulk of the nation, were 
induced by Justinian to attack the Gepidae. The war 
lasted fifteen years. In the end the Lombards made a 
treaty with the Avars which assured their success. . King 
Kunimund was killed by the hand of the Lombard chief,, 
Alboin (566). The Byzantines applauded loudly a vic- 
tory which relieved them of an embarrassing neighbour; 
they did not foresee that the Lombards, inspired by suc- 
cess, and attracted by the mildness of a climate in a coun- 
try where many had already served under Narses, would 

Great and the other Popes, from Saint Peter to Innocent III. , in part 
published in the " Patrologia Latina " of Migne, have been analysed 
by Ph. Jaffe: " Regesta pontificum romanorum"; new edition much 
enlarged by Wattenbach, Kaltenbrunner, and Ewald (2 vols.^ 
1885-1888). For Gregory's writings see A. Ebert: " Allgemeine 
Geschichte des Literatur des Mittelaltcrs im Abendlande"; also trans- 
lated into French (3 vols ). 

LiTEEATURE. — J. R. Green, " The Making of England "; Winkel- 
mann, "Geschichte der Angelsachsen " in Oncken; Hodgkin, "Italy 
and Her Invaders "; Bury and Diehl, as above; Loth, " L'Emigration 
Bretonneen Armorique "; Pingaud, " La Politique de Saint Gregoiri 
le Grand." 



I 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE LOMBARD INVASION. 117 

goon invade Italy. The barbarians had feared this general, 
but after his disgrace they moved onward, led by Alboin. 

3. The Lombards Invade Italy. — The entire nation emi- 
grated, as the Goths had done. Reinforced by thirty 
thousand Saxons, they invaded Friuli; terror excited by 
their ravages paralysed all courage. The Patriarch of 
Aquileia fled to a wretched fishing village, at Grado. 
Tuscany and Samnium were easily conquered; but Pavia 
held out for three years, until forced to yield by famine. 
Alboin spared the city, to make of it his capital. He 
died the following year at Verona, assassinated by one of 
his suite, doubtless at the instigation of his wife, Rosa- 
mund, daughter of Kunimund, whom he had married by 
force. His death was almost fatal to the Lombards. 
The principal chiefs asserted their independence; the 
conquered land was partitioned into duchies, and for a 
time there was no king. The Byzantines tried to profit 
by this anarchy; they called in to Italy Childebert II., 
king of Austrasia. The Lombards then realised the 
necessity for union, and chose a king. Autharis, elected 
in 584, repulsed the Franks and obliged the Greeks to 
shut themselves up in Ravenna. At his death the Lom- 
bards occupied the valley of the Po and all the interior 
of the peninsula to Beneventum; the Byzantines held only 
the coast-line of the three seas, with the large islands of 
Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily. Italy was cut in two. 

4. Social and Political Consequences of the Lombard 
Invasion. — The Lombard invasion caused more changes 
than did any of the preceding ones. Not that they were 
more cruel or intolerant than other barbarians, but that 
they were animated by a different spirit. The Lombard 
kings were not eager for office under the Empire, as 
Alaric, Odoacer, or Theodoric had been. They treated 
Italy like a conquered country. They refused to admit 



118 THE LAST INVASIONS AND THE PAPACY. 

the principle of personal law. All Eomans, priests a^ 
well, lost the benefit of living " according to Romaa 
law ''; they were in a condition lower than freedom. 
Lands were divided anew, and the land-owners were 
forced to give to the conquerors a third of the agricultural 
produce. Towns were less severely treated. The Lom- 
bard nobles lived in the German way — in the country, 
and occupied chiefly in the chase. The counts took no 
part in the municipal administration; they represented 
the king, presided over tribunals, and guarded the 
interests of Lombards living in the cities — nothing more. 
It seemed therefore as if the fusion of the two peoples 
would be impossible; it was accomplished, however, more 
rapidly than one would have thought. The Lombards- 
forgot their own tongue, adopted the manners and cus- 
toms of the conquered people, and, following their ex- 
ample, cultivated the peaceful arts, science, and com- 
merce. Astolf (749-756) divided his subjects into two 
divisions: proprietors and merchants; these into three 
classes; each class of merchants performed military 
service in a rank corresponding to the same class of pro- 
prietors. The Italians learned anew in the Lombard 
school the profession of arms. In the eighth century the 
absorption was complete. 

5. Greek Government in Italy. Exarchate of Ea- 
venna. — On the other hand, what was the condition of 
that part of Italy which was not subdued by the Lom- 
bards? In law it was under the authority of the prse- 
torian prefect and the military commandant, who 
wielded supreme power, with the title of exarch, which 
had been already borne by the governor of Africa. In 
the provinces were judges, under the supervision of 
bishops, and military chiefs — called dukes, or "masters of 
the militia,^' in the large cities, tribunes, in the small 



GRO WING A UTHORITY OF BISHOP OF ROME. 1 1 9 

^ones. But the exarch resided at Eavenna, where it was 
diflficiilt for him to communicate with the other provinces, 
which were surroimded by Lombards. Busy with his 
private affairs, or with intrigues which were going on at 
Constantinople, he abandoned them little by little to 
themselves. In this way Venice, Naples, Home became 
the centre of military governments or duchies which 
were almost independent. The priviles^e of electing its 
own dukes was early acquired by Naples. Venice, on the 
contrar}'', which developed more slowly in the shelter of 
her lagoons, was attached directly to the Empire. 

6. Rome in the Sixth Century. — Rome was much fallen. 
Since Honorius's time it had ceased to be the capital of 
the emperors of the West; since 476 it was nothing more 
than a provincial .city. It lost its oldest institutions 
under Justinian; it had no consul after 535; after 555 the 
Senate ceased to take part in the election of the bishop, 
and disappeared. During some time longer there were 
senators, but they formed part of a municipal body only. 
Honorius had suppressed the gladiatorial games; the last 
chariot races were held in 549 by Totila in the great am- 
phitheatre. Its mutilated monuments were all that re- 
mained of pagaii Rome. After the sixth century it was 
governed by the prefect of the city, and in its military 
affairs by a master of the militia named by the exarch or 
the emperor. 

7. Growing Authority of the Bishop of Rome. — Until 
that time the bishops of Rome had concerned themselves 
with religious matters. They took part, with the other 
bishops of the Christian world, and in the same degree, 
in the great councils which had decided the dogma and 
discipline of the Church. Like them, they were closely 
dependent on the emperor, although accorded the dignity 
of primates; after Saint Leo the Great the authorisation 



120 THE LAST INVASIONS AND THE PAPACY. 

of the " Pope " was necessary to legalise an ecumenical 
council convoked by the emperor. As it was necessary 
in the Church to have a supreme tribunal to act as a 
court of appeals, the jurisdiction of the bishop of Eome 
was acknowledged supreme. In this way Saint John 
Chrysostom had Pope Innocent I. annul a sentence passed 
against him by his adversaries. Soon this supremacy 
was extended to questions of dogma and discipline. As 
early as the fifth century the decisions or '^ decretals " of 
the Popes figure beside the canons of the councils in the 
collections of canonical texts. That composed by the 
monk Dionysius the Little in 500 exerted a great influence 
on the government of the Church. One point is worthy 
of note: the bishops of Eome were almost the only ones 
to profit by the misfortunes of the times, and to benefit 
by the laws through which Justinian gave to all bishops 
a fair share in the government of their cities and the 
choice of their officers. At a period when the most illus- 
trious episcopal cities, like Milan, were seized and occu- 
pied by barbarians, Eome escaped foreign domination. 
It was pillaged by Alaric, Gaiseric, and the Goths, but 
the conquerors did not settle down there; the Lombards 
closed in upon the city, which, however, was not taken. 
It passed through the most stormy invasions, and, 
although much tried, it grew great on the ruin of 
others. 

8. Beginning of the Temporal Power of the Popes. — K^ 
the bishop of Eome was thus becoming the undisputed 
primate of Italy, and playing a leading part in the uni- 
versal Church, he began to mix in temporal affairs, not 
only in Eome, but in the Empire, and even among the 
barbarian kingdoms. Down to the sixth century all 
popes are declared saints in the martyrologies. Vigilius 
(537-555) is the first of a series of popes who no longer 



PONTIFICATE OF GREGORY THE GREAT. 12l 

bear this title, which is henceforth sparingly conferred. 
From this time on the popes, more and more involved in 
worldly events, no longer belong solely to the Church; 
they are men of the state, and then rulers of the state. 
Gregory the Great, who merited canonisation, began the 
evolution which opened the way to such high destinies for 
the bishopric of Eome. 

9. Gregory the Great Before his Pontificate. — Gregory 
was a member of one of the most ancient noble families 
of Rome, the Anicii; one of his ancestors, Felix, had been 
Pope. He was born in 540. His parents intended him 
for public affairs; he studied dialectics and rhetoric, sub- 
jects much honoured in the schools which Theodoric the 
Great had restored. About 570, when he was thirty 
years old, he governed the city as prefect or praetor. At 
one time he was accustomed to be seen in the streets, 
dressed in silk garments adorned with precious stones. 
Suddenly he renounced the world, and devoted his in- 
heritance to the building of monasteries. Ordained 
deacon by Pope Pelagius, he was sent to Constantinople 
as apocrisiarius, that is to say, resident minister at the 
emperor's court. He remained there about five years. 
When Pelagius died the Romans hastened to elect in his 
place this scion of an illustrious family, who had filled 
such high offices and had been himself so humble. At 
first Gregory refused the perilous honour, but he was 
forced to accept it. He was consecrated in Saint Peter's 
Cathedral September 3, 590. 

10. The Pontificate of Gregory the Great. Division of 
the Subject. — Gregory was the first of the great popes of 
the Middle Ages. His work may be siunmed up under 
two heads: (1) To make the bishop of Rome a temporal 
sovereign in Rome and Italy; (2) to prepare the West to 
receive the spiritual primacy of Rome. It is possible 



122 THE LAST INVASIONS AND TEE PAPACY. 

that he did not realise the full meaning of the role whicK 
circumstances led him to play. 

11. His Temporal Authority. — As a citizen he had lav- 
ished his personal fortune on charities and pious endow- 
ments; as a bishop he applied the revenues of the Holy 
See to restoring churches, supplying Eome with provi- 
sions, ransoming prisoners of war, and keeping off the 
Lombards. Twice he bought off King Agilulf. He 
looked upon church property as the " common patrimony 
of suffering humanity." The papal possessions were 
much scattered, even lying in Dalmatia and Gaul. Greg- 
ory entrusted the management of them to agents, redores 
patrimonii, whose influence was felt in spiritual as well as 
in administrative matters. Thus the bishop of Eome, 
who was a great landed proprietor, became actual 
sovereign of his domains. The administration in Eome 
was legally in the hands of the emperor's agents, but as 
they had neither money nor soldiers from Byzantium, 
they were powerless. Gregory controlled them by means 
of his personal ascendency and repeated favours. Thus 
he paved the way for the sovereignty of the Pope at 
Eome, and for what is known as the " temporal power." 

12. His Spiritual Authority. — This he did for the state; 
in the Church, although he signed himself " servant of the 
servants of God," he would not brook the assumption of 
an authority which might lessen that of the Eoman See. 
Gregory protested energetically against the title of " ecu- 
menical," or universal, which the Patriarch of Constanti- 
nople had assumed — Eome was the capital of the Chris- 
tian world, not Constantinople. 

13. Progress of Catholicism in the West. — He profited 
by the growth of Catholicism in the West. The Lom- 
bards were Arians, or even pagans. Gregory was in con- 
stant communication with Thedelinda, a Bavarian Cath- 



GREGORY THE GREAT AS A MORALIST. 123 

olic princess, and widow of Autharis. Encouraged by him, 
she began their conversion. When Reccared was con- 
converted, in Spain, and forced his subjects to acknowl- 
edge the decrees of the council of Toledo, Gi:egory lost no 
time in congratulating him, and in reviving a friendship 
with the bishop of Seville, Leander, whom he had known 
formerly in Constantinople. He corresponded with the 
Prankish kings, sent messages to Brunhilda, recommended 
to her the monk Augustine and his companions, who were 
going on a mission to convert England. Little by little, 
and in this way, the Visigothic, Frankish, and Anglo- 
Saxon kings, the Lombards even, became followers of the 
Holy See. 

14. Gregory the Great as a Practical Moralist. His 
Works. — Gregory accelerated this movement by trying to 
make religion more moral and lovable. The futile dis- 
putes of the Byzantines had aroused but a faint echo in 
the less subtle minds of the West. Graver and more per- 
plexing questions troubled men's souls; such as free-will 
and divine grace. Like Saint Amboise and Saint Augus- 
tine, Gregory was a practical moralist. For the teaching 
of novices, he undertook an extensive commentary, very 
popular in the Middle Ages, under the name of "Moralia," 
of the book of Job; also a kind of manual to be used by 
confessors, entitled " Regula pastoralis." He relates, in 
the " Dialogues/' miracles and visions^ especially those 
concerning death and celestial happiness, which were ex- 
perienced by dying men. The beliefs, superstitions, and 
poetry of the Middle Ages were influenced in an ex- 
traordinary way by these writings. Gregory had no pride 
as an author. He neglected correct style; he affected 
such disdain for classic literature that the burning of the 
Palatine library is attributed to him. He never learned 
Greek, although he lived several years in Constantinople. 



V 

124 TEE LAST INVASIONS AND TEE PAPACY. 

He laid stress on faith, not on science. At the same time 
he tried to perfect the liturgy, or the order of services, in 
the celebration of divine worship. Nine authentic 
hymns composed by Gregory are in existence, and he in- 
troduced the Gregorian chant. 

15. Importance of his Pontificate. — Gregory died 
March 13, 604. His epitaph bears the title " Consul of 
God." He laid solid foundations for the temporal and 
spiritual supremacy of the popes. Dating from his pon- 
tificate, Rome recommenced, as she had done twelve cen- 
turies before, the conquest of the barbarian world, though 
her dominion was not to be established this time over 
bodies and by force, but over souls, and through faith. 
Anglo-Saxon Britain was, as it were, the first province of 
this Roman and. Christian empire. 

16. The Celts in Britain and Ireland. — The country 
known to-day as Great Britain and Ireland was originally 
peopled by the Celtic race. There were two distinct 
groups of dialects spoken there: (1) the Erse, or Gaelic, 
used in all Hibernia (Ireland); later carried by the 8coti 
to the Isle of Man and Albany, that is, western Scotland; 
(2) the Briton, spoken in the rest of Great Britain. The 
configuration of the land accentuated the differences of 
speech and peoples. The Britons lived in the lowlands 
along great rivers, such as the Severn, Thames, and 
Humber, which lay open to invasion; in the north the 
Scots of Albany and their neighbours, the Picts of Cale- 
donia, could organise a vigorous resistance in their 
mountains; Hibernia was far enough out of the maritime 
highway so as not to invite invasion. The Roman con- 
quest stopped at the foot of the Scotch, mountains, 
and did not touch Ireland. The Britons, who had 
yielded to the Romans, were also the prey of the bar- 
barians. 



CONQUEST OF BRITON BY ANGLO-SAXONS. 125 

17. Beginning of the Grennanic Invasions in Britain. — 
Their misfortunes began with the usurpation of Maximas, 
provincial governor, whom his legions proclaimed em- 
peror (381), and carried into Italy to fight Valentinian 
II. The northern frontier, which had been fortified by 
the Eomans, was left unprotected, and the hordes of un- 
subdued Picts and Scots rushed in and ravaged the low 
country. Stilicho drove them back into their mountains 
(400), but the invasion of Gaul soon necessitated the 
presence of his legions on the continent. The with- 
drawal was final. The country, left to itself, fell back 
into anarchy, whence the Eomans had with difficulty 
rescued it. The northern pillagers took advantage of it 
to extend their ravages to the Thames. A king of the 
south Britons, Vortigern, a usurper, it is said, summoned 
to aid them Saxon auxiliaries. 'Led by Hengist, a small 
body landed on the island of Thanet,* and helped Vor- 
tigern to drive back the invaders. Enticed doubtless by 
the richness of the land, they made preparations to re- 
main. Their provisions were cut off, and they then re- 
volted. 

18. Conquest of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons. History 
and Legend. — A war was thus begun, towards the middle 
of the fifth century, in the reign of the Emperor Marcian, 
which lasted more than a century, and which hurled in 
succession against Britain three Germanic peoples: the 
Jutes, who lived in what is now Denmark; the Angles, 
their neighbours, who emigrated in a body; and the 
Saxons. 

Tales of Briton origin boast of the exploits of a Ro- 
man chief, Ambrosius Aurelius, who successfully resisted 
the Saxons; they tell of a great defeat which the Britons 

* At the mouth of the Thames, near the right bank. It is to-day 
a part of the mainland of the county of Kent. 



126 THE LAST INVASIONS AND THE PAPACY. 

of the west, or Welsh, inflicted on the barbarians, perhaps 
near Bath, which secured peace for the country during 
one generation. Tales of Saxon origin ignore these re- 
verses. They enumerate, on the contrary, the successes 
of Hengist and Horsa, his brother; of JElla and his three 
sons (477-491); of Cerdic and his son Cyneric, who, vic- 
torious at Charford (519), seized the Isle of Wight (530); 
lastly, of Port and his two sons, who settled at Ports- 
mouth. The legend is further embellished with the ac- 
count of Vortigem's life, his marriage with Hengist's 
daughter, the beautiful Rowena, his quarrel with his 
father-in-law, his defeat and death, which left the king- 
dom of Kent in the power of its enemies. Arthur is sup- 
posed to have led the national defence, after Vortigern; 
but the period when he lived and the scene of his miracu- 
lous exploits are unknown. One sole fact stands out 
from all these tales: it is that the Britons were the only 
subjects, or almost the only subjects, of the Empire to 
oppose a determined resistance to the barbarians. It 
may be questioned whether the occupation of Gaul by 
the Franks took on the character of a violent con- 
quest; that this was the case in Britain cannot be 
doubted. 

Continued and trustworthy history in England begins 
in 547, with Ida, king of the country to the north of the 
Humber, and especially so with the introduction of 
Christianity into the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. 

19. The Heptarchy. — Seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms 
were gradually formed in the course of the sixth century. 
They were: Northumbria, to the north of the Humber; 
East Anglia, between the mouths of the Humber and 
Thames; Mercia, in the centre; Kent, in the southeast; 
the three Saxon kingdoms of the east, Essex, south, Sus- 
sex, and west, Wessex. The government of the region di- 



11 



CELTIC CIVILISATION IN BRITAIN. 127 

vided into these seven states was called a heptarchy.* It 
lasted two centuries and a half. It is the most deplorable 
period in the history of England; anarchy and civil and 
foreign wars added to the disasters of the invasions. 

20. Fate of the Britons. — What became of the original 
inhabitants, the Britons? In the few documents of this 
period which remain are accounts of the frightful ravages 
committed by the Anglo-Saxons. It is even said that the 
Briton population was completely exterminated. This is 
improbable. Doubtless it was reduced to slavery, there 
to remain, since history is silent concerning them. On 
the other hand, the entire island of Britain was far from 
being conquered; the invaders occupied the south and 
east only; the west and north did not fall under their 
sway. The Scots continued their raids into the south 
until arrested by Aethelred, king of Northumbria, who 
was victorious over them near Carlisle (603). The Picts 
were the dominant people in Caledonia until the ninth 
century; they were then absorbed by the Scots, who finally 
gave their name to the whole country. The vast moun- 
tainous peninsulas of western Britain sheltered the 
Britons and included independent states between the 
Clyde and the Solway, in Wales, or Cambria, in Devon and 
Cornwall. Finally a large body of Britons emigrated to 
Armorica. They took with them their customs and 
speech; it is since that time that Celtic has been spoken 
in the peninsula, which was then wholly Romanised. 
Henceforth it bore the name of Brittany. 

21. Celtic Civilisation in Britain and Armorica. — The 
Britons were sustained in their long resistance by a double 
sentiment: hatred of the foreigner and faith in the future. 

* This term must not be understood to mean that these seven 
states were united into a single government, but merely that there 
were seven states. — Ed. 



128 THE LAST INVASIONS AND THE PAPACY. 

'Arthur, the Christian hero, who is said to have borne the 
cross in the battle of Bath, became the symbol of their 
independence. They believed that he was not dead, but 
one day would rise from his long sleep, take up the strug- 
gle against the Saxons, and win back England for the 
Britons. The bards fostered religiously these proud 
hopes. A continual state of warfare did not modify their 
institutions, however. They remained grouped in fami- 
lies down to the ninth generation; the members of these 
patriarchal families, or clans, rendered one another 
mutual assistance, either to avenge an insult or a murder, 
before the courts, or in battle. A hereditary king was at 
the head of the chiefs of the clans; his power was slight, 
for he had no finances nor organised administration. 
The various divisions of the state were loosely bound to- 
gether. The weakness of these political institutions had 
given Britain to the Eomans, then to the Anglo-Saxons. 
The severe lesson of experience was not learned by the 
vanquished nation, and this carelessness was at last fatal 
to them. 

22. Christianity in Ireland. Saint Columba. — The 
Britons were Christianised at the time of the Conquest, 
and it Avas through them that Ireland was converted. 
The Catholic faith was taught there by three great saints: 
Patrick, Brigitta, and Columba, all popular in that coun- 
try to this day. The written histor}^ of Saint Brigitta 
is a tissue of fables; but Saint Patrick and Saint 
Columba are better known. The first has left authentic 
letters; Columba, from his real name, Crimthan, was of ^ 
royal birth, but he chose to be a monk. In 545 he 
founded the monastery of Derry, in the " valley of oaks," 
built many churches, and effected important conversions. 
Persecuted by his compatriots, he withdrew in 563 to the 
small island of Hii, or lona, full of old monuments of 



i 



ROMAN MISSION TO ENGLAND. 129 

paganism, that he might organise, at his leisure, a mon- 
astery remote from the tumult of the world. Thence 
he visited the Scots, whose king he induced to receive 
baptism, and founded the national church of Scotland. 

23. The Irish Monks in Britain and on the Continent. 
Saint Columban. — His disciples went on with his work of 
propaganda after his death (597). His identity must not 
be confused with that of his contemporary, who bears a 
similar name, Columban. The latter was also Irish. 
After being a monk at Bangor, he departed with twelve 
disciples for the continent (590); he founded the mon- 
astery of Ainegray in the Vosges. His reputation for 
saintliness attracted many followers^ for whom he 
founded not less th^n two monasteries: Luxeuil was the 
most renowned. Driven from the country by Brunhilda, 
he withdrew to the upper valley of the Ehine, where his 
disciple. Saint Gall, organised a, new brotherhood of 
monks; thence he passed on into Italy, where he died at 
the convent of Bobbio. There were other Irish monks 
who preached to the idolatrous tribes in Germany. Their 
success was a passing one, for they lacked enthusiasm, 
and worked undirected and often unprotected. Their 
efforts were a complete failure in England. To over- 
come the Anglo-Saxon stubbornness they needed the 
cooperation which Eome afforded them towards the end 
of the sixth century. 

24. Roman Mission to England. Saint Augustine, 597. 
The great Pope, Gregory I., began the Christian con- 
quest of the heptarchy. In 596 he sent out Augustine, 
prior of Saint-Andrew at Rome, recommending him to 
Brunhilda and her grandsons. Augustine's companions, 
men of little faith, were afraid to go to a barbarian people 
whose language was unknown to them. The following 
year Augustine set out with them again. He was well 



130 THE LAST INVASION'S AND THE PAPACY. 

received by Aethelberht, Mng of Kent and husband of 
Bertha, who was a Catholic and daughter of Caribert, 
king of Paris. He established himself at Canterbury, 
which was henceforth the seat of the primate of England. 
He converted the king of Kent, and died in 604. One of 
his companions became the first bishop of Kochester; an- 
other accompanied into Northumbria Aethelburga of 
Kent, bride of King Edwin (627), and laid the founda- 
tions for the great bishopric of York. Dunwich, Dor- 
chester, Lindisfarn, and Litchfield were successively 
bishoprics subordinate to the primate. The work did not 
go smoothly forward, however, and the new faith often 
relaxed into paganism. It was finally triumphant, and 
towards 600 was freely adopted by all the kingdoms of the 
heptarchy, and England thus became a part of the civil- 
ised world. 

25. Ecclesiastical Organisation of England. Saint 
Theodore. — A Greek monk, Theodore, born at Tarsus, 
was named by Pope Vitalian archbishop of Canterbury in 
669, and entrusted with the organisation of the Church. 
The missionaries' first converts were kings, whose chap- 
lains they became; the dioceses were bounded by the 
limits of the kingdoms. Theodore divided into two most 
of these early sees, the new dioceses corresponding, how- 
ever, to former political divisions, kingdoms, or sub-king- 
doms which had already lost their independence. In this 
way the two divisions of East Anglia, Norfolk, and Suf- 
folk became the bishoprics of Dunwich and Elmham. 
Wessex was cut in two by Selwood forest; the western 
part formed the diocese of Sherborne, the eastern, that of 
Winchester. The new sees depended, like the former 
ones, on the resident primate of Canterbury. The heads 
of parishes ranked next below the bishops. Until that] 
time there had been wandering missionaries only, who,| 



CHBISTIAN CIVILISATION IN NORTHUMBRIA. 131 

at the foot of a cross set up in the villages, or on the 
estate of some proprietor, preached and officiated at mass. 
The village now became the sphere of action for 
a priest, who was often named by a rich landowner, 
who would take him as his chaplain. In order to 
supervise and direct this clerical body, Theodore convoked 
several councils, and urged the bishops to gather around 
them, in their residences, all priests not employed in out- 
side services; these inmates were required to lead a kind 
of monastic life; therefore the same word was applied to 
the bishop's house as to the church: monasterium, min- 
ster. The cloistered monks were subject to the rule of 
Saint Benedict of Nursia, the celebrated founder of the 
abbey of Monte Cassino, who enjoined zeal at services, 
prayer, and song, and manual and intellectual labour. 
Theodore outlined a plan for a " Penitential," which was 
for long years the manual of confessors. After him the 
English Church was strong enough to dispense with 
foreign assistance. He was the last primate, until the 
Norman conquest who was not Anglo-Saxon. 

26. Christian Civilisation in Northumbria. The Ven- 
erable Bede. — This beneficent activity bore fruits, espe- 
cially in the northern countries. Northumbria at the 
end of the seventh century was the most powerful 
kingdom of the heptarchy; its clergy was the most en- 
lightened in England; the monasteries of Lindisfame, 
Wearmouth, and Jarrow were centres of holiness and 
learning. Benedictus Biscopus, founder of Wearmouth, 
went to Eome five times and brought back with him books 
and sacred images. He brought over masons from Gaul 
to build a church of stone " in the manner of the Ro- 
mans," and glaziers to close the windows of the church 
and the cells. Ceolfridus, first abbot of Saint Paul of 
Jarrow, had a rich manuscript of the Scriptures made to 



132 THE LAST INVASIONS AND THE PAPACY. 

offer to the Pope, which still exists. The man who has 
rendered most illustrious Anglo-Saxon literature, Bede, 
entered this monastery at seven years of age. He was 
the author of various works on theology, orthography, 
and metre, natural history and chronology. The " Eccle- 
siastical History of the English Nation '' is an invaluable 
work on the beginnings of the history of England. He 
brought it down to 732. He died three years later, in 
the midst of his work and preaching. That same year 
there was born at York Alcuin, who was to give a new 
impetus to study in France, under Charlemagne. 

27. Effects of England's Conversion. — England's con- 
version had important results. It created a love for let- 
ters in a barbarian country; made possible a contempla- 
tive life in a society given over to anarchy; broadened the 
influence of the bishop of Kome in the "West; and gave 
the land the appearance, at least, of unity. Though sev- 
eral kings might dispute its possession, it knew but one 
Church, subject to Canterbury, and attached to Rome. 
Its national councils were like the first form of the 
national parliaments of the future United Kingdom. 

28. Results of the Invasion. Summary. — Compare now 
the condition of the Roman world in 395 with that about 
630. Towards the end of the fourth century the emperor 
controlled the whole Mediterranean basin; the inherit- 
ance of the Caesars was intact; the Latin and Creek worlds 
were closely allied; Catholicism, the official religion, was 
imposed on all consciences, as the emperor with absolute 
power governed all wills. In the seventh century the 
sovereign at Byzantium commanded the Greek world i 
alone; with the exception of some garrisons on the Africai 
coast, and a few spots in Italy, the Latin world hac 
slipped from his grasp. The barbarian nations who ha( 
acknowledged the imperial supremacy had thrown it off; 



RESULTS OF THE INVASION. SUMMARY. 133 

the late-comers, such as the Anglo-Saxons and Lombards, 
ignored or disdained it. While in the East Greek con- 
tinued to be spoken, Latin was gradually being trans- 
formed by the barbarians, and the diversity of tongues 
derived from the Latin is the living proof of the diversity 
of peoples. The slow development of modem states 
made impossible a return to the old political unity im- 
posed by the Empire on peoples different, yet more mal- 
leable. Religious unity even was threatened. The 
Greek Church exhausted itself in vain theological discus- 
sions, and struggled fruitlessly against heresies which cast 
doubts in men's minds without appealing to their hearts. 
The Latin Church, on the other hand, strengthened itself 
by taking for its head the bishop of Rome, Saint Peter's 
successor; it strove to reestablish unity. In the opinion 
of the thinkers, writers, and rulers of that time, the 
Pope already seemed to represent the continuance of the 
imperial order. But the new force which was taking 
shape was a moral one; it lacked material means for ren- 
dering the Catholic idea triumphant; it sought them in 
the barbarian society, born of violence^ and fostered by 
revolutions, a poor way for the Church to keep its purity 
and honour. The Church, therefore, could not end the 
confused struggle of Christian Europe. 

At the same time a revolution was taking place in Asia 
which is as important in the history of civilisation as the 
barbarian invasions. The Mohammedan Arabs were 
rushing to the conquest of the Mediterranean world. 
After the death of their Prophet (632), who was to stop 
them? The Roman Empire was exhausted by wars with 
the Persians and Bulgarians. The barbarian kingdoms 
of the West were plunged in anarchy; the Visigoths of 
Spain were enfeebled by rival claimants to the throne; 
after Dagobert, the faineant kings threatened France 



134 THE LAST INVASIONS AND TEE PAPACY. 

with a fresh series of civil wars; the Lombards, in Italy, 
kept up an unceasing struggle with the Greek Empire and 
the popes; England was a prey to quarrels in the hep- 
tarchy. Everything was favourable then to the bold 
undertaking of the Arabs, who threatened Europe and the 
Christian world. 



CHAPTEE^X. 



THE AKABS — MOHAMMED.* 



1. Geographical Situation of Arabia. — Arabia is a vast 
quadrangular peninsula, bounded on three sides by the 
Eed Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf. It is 
divided into two very unequal parts by a chain of moun- 
tains which runs parallel with the western coast line. Be- 
tween these mountains and the neighbouring sea the land 
is generally arable and inhabited. Hedjaz, along the Red 
Sea, and Yemen, in the southwest angle of the peninsula, 
are clearly distinguished. Hadramaut, Mahra, Omant, 
towards the Indian Ocean, and Haca, on the Persian Gulf, 
are still important centres of population; but it was 
mainly on the slope of the Red Sea that the political and 
religious activity of Arabia was developed. Nedjed, on 
the central plateau, is a kind of desert dotted with numer- 
ous oases. Towards the south all vegetation ceases, it 
being a region of quicksands and barren desert; towards 
the north the Arabian plain has no natural boundary, but 
may be said to extend from the Euphrates to the Jordan. 
On this side the country spreads out into the regions 
which have been, since the earliest times, the possessions 
of great civilised states: Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria, 

* Sources. — " The Koran," translation of Sale or of Palmer. 

Literature. — Miiir, " The Coran: its Composition and Teach- 
ing " ; Articles in the Encyclopaedia Britannica: " Islamism," " Cal- 
iphate," "Koran"; Bury, and Bury's Gibbon as above; T. W. 
Arnold, "The Preaching of Islam;" Noeldeke, "Sketches from 
Eastern History." 

135 



136 TEE ABABS-MOEAMMED. 

empires built on sand, indeed, and always changing; but 
the rest of the country lay out of the route of the early 
migrations, and was somewhat forgotten. 

2. Arabian and Bedouin Customs. — The geographical 
isolation of Arabia explains how the Semitic race has been 
able to remain so pure. It comprises two principal 
branches: the Bedouins, a pastoral and nomadic people of 
the desert, loving war and pillage. The Egyptian Simneh 
so described them in the time of the nineteenth dynasty; 
so they were in the sixth century of our era, so they are 
to-day. But the population on the south and southwest 
was sedentary, given to agriculture, and rich through the 
caravan trade. These two groups of the race — the tent- 
dwellers and those who lived in houses — despised eacK 
other and waged continual warfare. They were all of the 
same type, however, — darker in the south, because of 
mixing with the African blacks, — speaking the same lan- 
guage, and having the same social organisation. Nowhere 
were they embodied in a nation. They were sepa- 
rated into independent tribes, made up of families which 
recognised the authority of a chief, as sheikh. The 
Arabs w^ere polygamous; it was seldom that a maiden or 
a young widow remained long unmarried, since the family 
needed many children in order to be strong, rich, and re- 
spected. In certain Bedouin tribes, however, sons were 
preferred to daughters, whom fathers did not hesitate to 
bury alive, so as not to have useless mouths to feed. 
In times of war the freemen fought under the orders of 
an emir, but in peace the family alone was the organisa- 
tion. Hence there was no state — that is to say, no 
courts, no police, no army, no taxes. Any man who was 
wronged had the right to inflict vengeance, and his 
family was expected to uphold him; but, as among the 
GermanS; the affair might be settled by payment. If the 



THE MECCA. 137 

injury were done by a member of his own family, the Arab 
did not hesitate to retaliate, but on him alone; he would 
never have thought of destroying voluntarily his family. 
Later, as Mohammedan, he would not pardon infidelity 
or apostasy in his relatives. He was hospitable, but 
greedy, cunning, and violent. He had a quick, exact 
mind, a brilliant imagination, and an innate taste for 
eloquence and poetry. 

3. Religion of the Arabs Before Mohammed. — His re- 
ligion was simple, like his mind. He believed in the ex- 
istence of one god. Alia Taala, creator of earth and sky, 
giver of rain; but he knew little more, this god having 
•neither priests nor temples. But he believed in the 
djinns. They were invisible genii who lived and multi- 
plied like men; they filled the outer world, and interfered 
for good or ill, at any moment, in human affairs. Vari- 
ous families had different beliefs as to where they lived; 
it might be in stones, in trees, in statues. Therefore the 
worship of this fetich was as ardent as it was self-inter- 
ested. Each tribe or group of tribes had its djinn, and 
consequently its tree, or stone, or statue, to which they 
sacrificed victims and whose oracles the}^ obeyed; the 
djinn was expected to acknowledge this worship by gifts, 
and it was not unusual for an Arab, displeased with his 
djinn, to overthrow the fetich which he had adored. 

4. The Mecca. The Kaaba and the Arab Pantheon. — 
Arabia possessed nevertheless religious unity. Mecca 
was the religious centre of the country. The village was 
young, founded in the middle of the fifth century, in a 
long narrow valley, by the tribe of the Koreishites. 
The sanctuary there was celebrated throughout Arabia, 
and because of its cubical form was called the Kaaba. It 
was an Arabian pantheon. Three hundred and sixty 
idols were collected there; among them were images of 



138 THE ARABS— MOHAMMED. 

^Abraham and Jesus, a silver statue called Hobal, whicK 
"was the idol of the Koreishites, and the famous black 
stone, the most venerated of all, which had fallen from 
heaven, and which is still preserved. The presence of 
the Kaaba made the territory of Mecca inviolable. The 
tribe of the Koreisheites was peculiarly respected; two of 
its families rose to importance: the Omeia, which gave 
the first dynasty of caliphs; and the Hachem, whence 
came Mohammed. 

5. Jewish, Christian, and Persian Influences in Arabia. 
Hanifism. — At the time of Mohammed's birth the faith 
in idols was beginning to weaken. Some believed in a 
future life, though the greater number considered this 
ridiculous. Others listened to outside influences. Chris- 
tianity had penetrated the country, either through the 
south by way of Abyssinia, or through the north, for 
Syria was Christianised, and Sinai was peopled with 
monasteries. Judaism had numerous partisans, who 
strengthened the belief in one god, and introduced a 
mythology, the elements of which were mainly borrowed 
from the religion of Zoroaster. Yet not one of these 
foreign religions was to triumph in Arabia. Christian 
dogma was too complex for the Arabians; Judaism was 
the religion of a chosen people, and the Arabs would not 
sacrifice their independence. Nevertheless, Jewish, Chris- 
tian, and Persian ideas prepared the way for a reformer. 
A few persons already believed in a god who would 
punish or reward human actions; they were known as 
^' Hanifs," or penitents. 

6. Mohammed. Childhood and Youth. — Mohammed, 
or Mahomet, was born at Mecca, according to Arabian 
traditions, April 20, 571. He belonged to the family of 
Hachem, which was poor, but to whom was confided the 
care of the holy well of Zamzam, and the privilege of 



THE FIRST MOHAMMEDANS. 139 

Srawing water for the pilgrims. His father died before 
his birth; he lost his mother when he was six years old. 
He was thus left an orphan, with an inheritance of five 
camels, some sheep, and a slave. He was obliged to tend 
flocks of sheep and goats, a despised occupation, on the 
neighbouring hills of Mecca. At twenty-five he entered 
the service of a young widow, Khadijah, twice married, 
who carried on an active, successful trade by caravan. 
He married her, and she bore him six children. Like all 
Arabs, he practiced polygamy; he had fifteen wives, nine 
of whom survived him. 

7. Mohammed Begins Preaching. His Doctrine. — The 
poor herdsman's marriage with the rich Khadijah brought 
him wealth and consideration. Work was unnecessary. 
He was of a nervous temperament, with a vivid imagina- 
tion, tending to dreaminess. His mind was early at- 
tracted to religious ideas; he liked to talk with Christians 
and Jews; for a period, he adopted the doctrines of Hani- 
fism. Yet he could not reconcile the idea of one god 
with the worship of idols. He lived with his family on 
Mount Hira, a barren, scorched tract of land. One day 
he had a vision: the holy spirit, whom he called later the 
Archangel Gabriel, appeared to him. "Preach!" he 
said. " But I cannot preach." " Preach! " repeated the 
inner voice, which, in his hallucination, he thought was 
audible. Mohammed believed himself charged by God to 
teach what he henceforth considered as the truth: There 
is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet; He guides 
and watches over human acts; after death He rewards the 
good and punishes the wicked; man should acknowledge 
these truths, should pray, and fast at prescribed times, 
and practise charity. 

8. The First Mohammedans. — Mohammed was about 
forty when he began to preach this simple lofty doctrine. 



140 THE ARABS— MOHAMMED. 

His wife was first converted^ then his daughters^ then his 
cousin Ali, whom he adopted after the death of his male 
children, and whom he married to his favourite daughter, 
Fatima. The first among his friends to believe in him 
was Abn-Bekr, a rich merchant; then Othman, who be- 
came converted in order to marry one of the Prophet's 
daughters, the beautiful Eokaia. In the beginning Omar 
w^as angry with the Prophet, but it is related that he 
found a precept dictated by him, which was of such 
beauty that his anger was dissipated, and he sought out 
Mohammed and became one of his most ardent and violent 
partisans. This was in the fifth year of the revelation 
(615); the new religion then numbered but fifty-two fol- 
lowers, but among them were two valuable recruits, Abu- 
Bekr, a man of practical common sense, and Omar, one of 
energy. They were a fitting complement to Mohammed's 
dreamy, irresolute nature; the first as the counsellor, the 
second as the sword. 

9. Mohammed Driven out of Mecca. The Hegira, 622. 
— A prophet is not without honour save in his own coun- 
try. Hostilities began when Mohammed preached the 
breaking of idols. His unprotected partisans were perse- 
cuted; his family was proscribed; he fled to Yatrib, where 
he had made proselytes. This was the decisive moment 
of his life, when he first stood out as the leader of a party. 
The birth of the new religion dates from that time, and 
wdth it the Mussulmans begin a new era, that of the 
flight, or Hegira (July 16, 622). 

10. Organisation of Islamism at Medina. — From that 
time on Mohammed dwelt at Yatrib. The name was 
changed to Medinet-el-nabi, or City, of the Prophet — 
Medina at the present time. He made and kept the^^ 
promise of never leaving his adopted land, were he evedUj 
victorious. He was first active in building a mosque, and 



MOHAMMED'S WARS AGAINST MECCA. 141 

in regulating an order of worship. He preached to his 
people resignation to the will of Allah (islam); he com- 
manded those who professed Islamism, the Mussulmans 
(submissive to Allah)^ to pray hve times daily, and ob- 
serve faithfully the fast of Ehamadan. He organised 
them into a single body or nation, where the condition of 
peace or war should be common to all. Law and justice 
were observed; the rights of property were protected; the 
condition of the married woman was relieved; and, al- 
though the right of vengeance was not abolished, with 
him rested the authority for shedding blood. Eeligious 
unity thus prepared the way for the political unification 
of Arabia. 

11. Mohammed's Wars Against Mecca. He Is Vic- 
torious. — Mohammed was now strong enough to wreak 
vengeance on his enemies. In the name of his revela- 
tions he proclaimed a holy war against the people of 
Mecca. Progress was slow, but a crushing defeat near 
Mount Ohod did not dampen the ardour of the believers 
(625). Two years later, in Medina, he repulsed a furious 
attack of the people of Mecca. He enlisted the Bedouins 
on his side, who were an excellent body of cavalry, and 
strengthened the alliance with his principal lieutenants 
by marrying Aicha, daughter of Abu-Bekr, and Hafsa,. 
Omar's daughter. In 628 he resolved to perform the an- 
nual pilgrimage to Mecca. Fourteen hundred armed 
men escorted, this time, the man who six years previously- 
had fled from the holy city. The Koreishites intended 
to bar his way. A conference took place, not far from 
Mecca, between the Mussulmans and delegates of that 
city. The latter were amazed at the marks of veneration 
lavished on the Prophet by his followers: when he had 
finished his ablutions they hastened to gather nip the 
water which he had used; if one of his hairs fell, they 



342 THE ABABS— MOHAMMED. 

rushed to get it; if he spit, they fought over his saliva. 
One of the delegates, returning to the Koreishites, could 
not refrain from saying to them: " I have been at the 
court of emperors, I have seen Caesar and Chosroes in all 
the glory of their power; but I have never seen a sov- 
ereign revered by his subjects as Mohammed is by his fol- 
lowers." This frightened them from_ their project of 
combating him. An advantageous truce was signed, 
which was to last for ten years: Mohammed and his fol- 
lowers had to leave the holy territory that year, but they 
might freely perform a pilgrimage of three days the fol- 
lowing year. 

12. Mecca Taken. Idolatry Condemned. — Mohammed 
soon gathered in the fruits of this great moral victory. 
Several Koreishites went over to his party, among others, 
Amru, the future conqueror of Egypt, and Khaled, the 
victor of Ohod. The truce was broken by Mecca. Mo- 
hammed marched against the city with an army of ten 
thousand men, and with such rapidity that it offered al- 
most no resistance. He stopped the fighting and pillag- 
ing as soon as possible, being content to outlaw about 
fifteen of his most notorious enemies. He then withdrew 
to the Kaaba. Seven times he rode around it, mounted 
on his camel; he touched the black stone respectfully 
with a bent rod carried in his hand; the images, which 
recalled the ancient superstitions, henceforth condemned, 
were ordered to be destroyed. Three hundred images 
fixed in lead were arranged along the roof; as he passed 
before these false gods he raised his stick while pro- 
nouncing these words: "Truth is come; let falsehood 
disappear! " Instantly they were overthrown and broken 
into pieces. He ended the day by receiving the vows of 
the inhabitants of Mecca; the men promised absolute 
obedience to his commands, the women, to adore Allah' 



f 

I 



MOHAMMED'S DEATH, 632. 143 

iaione, to desist from theft, adultery, infanticide, and 
slander (630). 

13. Entire Arabia Subdued by Mohammed. — As a con- 
queror Mohammed pardoned his enemies: Ibn-abi-Sarh, at 
one time the Prophet's secretary, who had dared to falsify 
the text of the revelations, and who finally returned to 
idolatry; and Abdallah, son of Zibara, Koreishite poet,, 
wiio, by his virulent satires, had stirred up others against 
him. They bought pardon with conversion. He then 
subdued a part of the Bedouins who threatened Mecca, 
the Christians of Nadjra, the princes of Mahra and Oman^ 
and the tribes of Yemen and Nedjed; at the end of 631 
entire Arabia was at his feet, and idolatry was abolished. 

14. Mohammed's Death, 632. — Ten years had passed 
since Mohammed fled from Mecca. He returned as a pil- 
grim, in March, 632, in all the splendour of glory and 
power, accompanied, according to certain writers, by 
more than a hundred thousand believers. He had sent 
on before him the ninth chapter, sourate, of the Koran,, 
in which he declared war on those who refused to be- 
lieve his doctrine; and on all sides princes and people 
joined Islamism, " more numerous than the dates which 
fall from the palm trees." But the Prophet was worn 
out by these ten years of labour. He had come back to 
Medina to die. Before returning, he distributed the 
command of the conquered countries among his principal 
lieutenants, and sent an expedition into Syria. He felt 
that life was slipping from him. " Allah," he said, " I 
have delivered my message and fulfilled my mission.'* 
Though suffering from f eVer, he went to the mosque, and, 
after having praised God and asked pardon for his sins, 
he went up into the pulpit: " If any man has occasion to 
complain that I have maltreated him, here is my back, let 
him pay me my blows; if I have wounded the reputatioa 



144 THE ARABS— MOHAMMED. 

of anyone, let him revile me; if I have taken money from 
anyone, I am ready to return it." A man claimed three 
drachmas, which were paid immediately. Then he gave 
orders and advice to the faithful: battle with idolaters, 
gentleness towards converts, constancy in prayer. The 
poor were also thought of, and Mohammed had Aicha dis- 
tribute among them the gold which was in her house. 
June 8 he returned once more to the mosque and spoke a 
last time to the people. " By Allah! " he exclaimed, " no 
man can say aught against me. I have not permitted 
anything which God has not permitted, nor forbidden 
anything which God has not forbidden." Going home to 
Aicha, he lay down, uttered a few broken words: " Allah! 
help me in my agony! Gabriel, come near to me. Allah! 
pardon me, and take me to my friends on high! Eternity 
in paradise." Then he fell asleep. 

15. Mohammed^s Portrait. — ^Mohammed was of medium 
size; he had a large head, strong hands and feet, thick 
l)eard and straight hair. Though silent, as a rule, he 
was easily enlivened. He was quick, though not unkind, 
in repartee. Careful in his person, to the extent of stain- 
ing his brows and lids black, with kohl, and his nails red, 
with henna; he wore a simple woollen garments. He was 
sober, charitable, thoughtful for his friends,- loving to his 
wives, tender towards his children. He loved poetry and 
dreaded satire. His favourite poet was Hassan, who out- 
shone the poet of another tribe, the Benou-Temim, and 
iDy this victory persuaded them to be converted. Another 
poet. Cab, proscribed by Mohammed, was pardoned, after 
reciting verses on the subject; Mohammed was so touched 
l}y them that he gave him his cloak. The Turks believe 
that they still have this garment, which is carefully pre- 
served in the Sultan's palace in Constantinople. Mo- 
iiammed had his shortcomings. He knew how to recon- 



THE KORAN, 146 

cile his interests and his pleasures with his religious mis- 
sion; it is difficult to say to what degree pretence and cal- 
culation blended with sincere belief and enthusiasm; but 
he was a wary politician, broad and tolerant in his mind, 
and had a compassionate heart for misery and suffering. 
He was neither a theologian nor a philosopher; he never 
expressed himself clearly on predestination and free-will. 
Yet, in preaching Islamism, he laid the foundations for a 
very simple religion, which has kept to the present in- 
credible vitality and capacity for expansion and propa- 
gandism. 

16. The Koran. How It Was Written. — His teachings 
are contained in the Koran (more exactly, Qor^an). This 
book is in no way like our Gospels. The precepts which 
Mohammed said were revealed to him, and which he 
formulated to meet all the circumstances of life, were 
gathered together by his disciples into chapters, or 
sourates, of unequal length. Some were written on skins 
or palm leaves; the greater part were kept in the mem- 
ory of certain worshippers, who were called, for that 
reason " Ashab " readers or bearers of the Koran. More 
than six hundred of these were killed in a battle one 
year after the Prophet's death. Abu-Bekr, Mohammed's 
successor, fearing that the Koran might be mutilated, 
commanded Zaid-Ibn-Thabit, Mohammed's former secre- 
tary, to collect all the verses into writing. The third 
caliph, Othman, had a new copy made, and all others de- 
stroyed. The sourates were arranged according to their 
length, and the form has been but slightly modified since 
then. This strange classification is sufficient to explain 
the dryness of the Koran; therefore it is little read, in 
spite of the beauty of some passages. The Mussulmans 
consult it for everything, for all questions are treated 
in it. 



146 THE ABABS— MOHAMMED. 

17. The Mussulman. Dogma. — The dogma taught 
therein is very simple, since it consists solely in the belief 
in the unity of God and the divine mission of the Prophet. 
The creation of the world is related as in Genesis; the 
djiniis are changed to angels and demons, as with the Per- 
sians. The angels are mortal beings who will die on the 
day of the Last Judgment. The chief of the demons, 
who may be converted, resembles the Jewish and Chris- 
tian Satan. Mohammed converted several of them him- 
self. God reveals himself to man through his prophets; 
there have been one hundred and twenty of them since 
the world began, but the principal ones before Mohammed 
were Adam, N"oah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus Christ. 
The Mussulman has five great duties here below: (1) ad- 
mit the two principal dogmas of Islamism; (2) pray five 
times a day; (3) fast during the entire month of Ehama- 
dan — that is to say, refrain from food and drink until the 
setting of the sun; (4) give alms and pay the poor tax; 
(5) make at least once during life-time a pilgrimage to 
Mecca, observing all the rites of the tradition of Adam 
and Abraham. These are the five " pillars " of Islamism. 
A holy war is enjoined on Mussulmans, but only in case 
the infidels are the aggressors. The early Mussulman 
leaders did not force their belief on conquered nations; 
later the theologians interpreted differently the words on 
this subject in the Koran. The Koran teaches belief in 
another life; the dead will rise on the last day, in the 
clothing which they wore at their death; meanwhile, they 
are placed, according to their merits, in heaven or hell. 
The latter has seven divisions for as many categories of 
the damned. Paradise is composed of beautiful gardens, 
where youths serve, to the chosen ones, a perfumed non- 
intoxicating drink, and where the latter have as com- 
panions Jiouris, or young girls " with black eyes." Heaven' 




THE LEGEND. 147 

and hell are separated by a wall. The intermediate space 
is the abode of persons whose good actions during life 
have compensated for their bad ones. The adaptations 
from the Christian, Persian, and Jewish religions are 
recognisable, and tended to facilitate the conversion of 
Persians, even of Christians and Jews, to Mohamme- 
danism. Lastly, the Koran contains simple rules for 
daily life, or hygiene; it forbids gaming, wine, and pork. 
It is consulted by judges to decide the simplest, as well as 
the most complicated, differences, and it has long re- 
mained the only code of law of the Mussulman states. 

18. The Legend. — Although the Koran is consulted, it 
is never read. It is in legend and tradition that the 
Prophet's life is known. They tell of the countless de- 
cisions he rendered, which are now a precedent for all 
legal and moral questions. More often the tale is purely 
legendary, and hence has a charm of its own. Begun 
during Mohammed's lifetime, the story is gradually em- 
bellished, as with all great men, and when later it was 
taken down in writing it had transformed Mohammed. 
The small, dark, thick-set, nervous Arab, loving per- 
fumes, verses, and women, dreamy and enthusiastic, gen- 
erous and unscrupulous, was become a saint. 



CHAPTEE XI. 

aEABIAN empire — COXQUESTS AND CIVILISATION.* 

1. Abn-Bekr, Successor of Mohammed, and First Caliph, 

632-634. — There was some hesitation in the choice of 
Mohammed's successor. The people of Medina claimed 
the right of choosing him, since tliej had received the 
Prophet as a fugitive, and bought his victories with their 
blood. The emigrants from Mecca insisted that the 
Prophet's successor should come from among the Ko- 
reishites; they won the day, and after a brief debate Abu- 
Bekr, Mahommed's chosen friend, was elected. He 
assumed the title of " caliph." Elsewhere, many who had 
adopted Islamism through fear, on learning of Mo- 
hammed's death, rebelled and returned to their idols. 
Abu-Bekr sent out against them Khalid, with explicit 
orders to exterminate the " apostates "; Khalid, the 
" scourge of infidels," vanquished them with great car- 
nage. The alarm was intensified, since the caliph's sole 
body of troops had already gone into Syria; Arabian con- 
quests had begun. 

2. The Holy War Preached by Mohammed, and Begun 
by Abu-Bekr. — Mohammed had already given the signal 
for conquest. In the unsophisticated pride which the 
successes of 628 had aroused, he believed himself master 
of the world. He had sent an embassy to the great Chos- 
roes Parwis, to invite him to adopt Islamism. "Is it 

* Literature. — Ameer Ali, " A Short History of the Saracens " ; 
Muir, "The Caliphate " ; Bury and Gibbon, as above. 

148 



I 



CONQUEST OF SYRIA. 149 

thus/^ replied Chosroes, '^'that a man who is my slave 
dares to write me? " — alluding to an epoch when the Per- 
sians had possessed Yemen, and he tore the letter. " May 
his empire be so destroyed! " exclaimed Mohammed, on 
learning of the affront. A second embassy bore the same 
invitation to Heraclins, who was bringing the war against 
the Persians to a glorious end. The emperor, accustomed 
to treat with Arab chiefs and to avoid useless conflicts 
with them, received the letter respectfully and made a 
gracious reply. Mohammed was more fortunate with 
the Egyptian governor. He was a Copt, named Djarih, 
who had almost acquired independence; he was a Chris- 
tian, partisan of the Jacobite sect, and hated the ortho- 
dox. He welcomed Mohammed's messages, and sent him 
presents: silver, a horse, a white mule, a silver-grey 
donkey, and two young girls of noble birth. Mohammed 
gave one maiden to the poet, Hassan, and kept the other 
for himself. In 629 an expedition which had been sent 
out against the Ghassinides of Bosra, on the Syrian fron- 
tier, failed; in 632 Syria was attacked by Mohammed. 
Abu-Bekr sent a second army against Persia. 

3. Conquest of Syria. — Syria succumbed first. A great 
victory gained by Khalid on the shores of the Hierono- 
max (or Yarmouk) delivered the province over to the 
Mussulmans (634). Damascus was taken by assault and 
sacked; then Emesa and Aleppo. The following year 
Caliph Omar, elected after Abu-Bekr in 634, entered 
Jerusalem and founded a mosque on the site of the stone 
on which Jacob fell asleep. Finally the governor of Mo- 
hammedan Syria equipped a fleet, which took possession 
of Cyprus, Crete, and Rhodes, and inflicted a defeat on 
the empire along the coast of Lycia. The submission 
of Armenia, which consented to pay tribute, brought the 
Mussulmans to the Caspian Sea, and beyond the Caucasus. 



250 ARABIAN EMPIRE. 

The indolence of Heraclius, who, after his victories 
over the Sassanides, had fallen into shameful apathy, and 
the fact that Eoman Syria and Mesopotamia were peopled 
by Arabs^ who went over to the conquerors at once, explain 
sufficiently the rapidity of the early Mussulman con- 
quests. Other causes led to the ruin of the Persian em- 
pire, which was no less prompt, but more complete. 

4. Persia of the Sassanides. Its Extreme Importance 
in the History of Civilisation. — This empire had existed 
four centuries. Founded in 226 by one of the magi, who 
had restored the ancient religion of Zoroaster, according 
to the sacred texts of the Avesta, it had prospered 
rapidly. Situated, so to speak, in the centre of the an- 
cient world, it was an intermediary between the East and 
the West. It gave the West the doctrine of Manichaeus, 
founded, like that of Zoroaster, on the idea of a twofold 
god of good and evil. It received from Byzantium, either 
through the exiled Nestorians or the last Platonists 
driven out by Justinian, the seed of Greek philosophy and 
science. On the other hand, it was in constant relations 
with the Chinese empire, whose frontiers touched its bor- 
ders; and with India, which had brought Buddhism into 
Bactria. Contact with these strong, fecund civilisations 
helped in the development of its own genius. 

5. Decadence of Persia. — But the prosperity of this 
brilliant state was doubly imperilled. In the first place 
the religion, Parseeism, administered by an exclusive, par- 
ticular, sacerdotal caste, had degenerated into gross 
superstition and ceremonial, whilst cultivated minds were 
tending to free thought; from that time on its moral 
force was broken. Parseeism, conscious that power was 
slipping from its grasp, grew intolerant, and consequently 
was detested. On the other hand, the Persians believed in 
an absolute monarchy, and in the divine nature of their 



CONQUEST OF EGYPT. 151 

kings. As long as their kings had been victorious their 
authority was unquestioned; the defeats which the Eo- 
mans inflicted on them in the seventh century shook their 
faith in monarchy, the more, since the reign of Chosroes 
the Great had been most brilliant. After Chosroes 
II., revolutions in the palace made and unmade sov- 
ereigns. Such was the condition of political and moral 
decadence of Persia at the time of the accession of Yez- 
degerd, who was to be the last reigning prince of the 
Sassanides. 

6. Conquest of Persia by the Arabs. — This young prince 
soon arrayed against the Arabs all the forces of the re- 
organised empire. He forced the Arabs first to evacuate 
the posts occupied by Kalid in Irak; but Sad, who was 
put in command by Omar, rallied the Arabs. He gained 
a great victory at Kadesiah (636), took and destroyed 
Madain, the Persian capital, fought Yezdegerd at Ne- 
havend, and pursued him into Khorassan. The unfortu- 
nate prince was assassinated at Merv by a miller with 
whom he sought shelter. His son fled to the Chinese 
emperor; the last member of the dynasty of the Sassa- 
nides died soon after in exile. 

7. Conquest of Egypt. — The conquest of S3Tia had 
taken seventeen years, and Persia eight; Egypt was sub- 
dued in two years. In 639 Amru invaded it with four 
thousand men; Farma, old Pelusium, " the key of Egypt," 
was captured after a siege of thirty days. Amru was 
held in check for seven months by the fortified city of 
Babylon, which was guarded by a Greek flotilla, and an 
army intrenched in a camp on the left bank of the Nile; 
he finally took it, and changed the name to El Cahira 
(Cairo). Alexandria, being constantly reinforced through 
communication with the sea, held out for more than a 
year, and was at last taken by assault in 641. It is said 



152 ARABIAN EMPIRE. 

that the remains of the famous library collected by the 
Caesars was used for fuel to heat the Mussulman baths; 
but it is doubtful if anything remained of the library, 
which was sacked in the fourth century in the furious 
struggles between orthodox and heretics. The Arabs 
rushed on from Alexandria into Libya; they took Barca, 
Tripoli, Sabra, and began the conquest of the Berbers; 
however,the civil wars which wasted Arabia during the sec- 
ond half of the seventh century called them back. The 
Arabian invasion was delayed until the following century. 

8. Internal Discord in Arabia. All and Aicha. — Omar, 
the second caliph, died in 644. Othman, secretary and 
friend of Mohammed, a believer from the first, was 
elected. He favoured the men of his tribe, the Meccaian 
aristocracy, and the Ommiades. The inhabitants of Me- 
dina and the old believers were indignant that preference 
should be given to those who had persecuted the Prophet 
twenty years before. They had the calij)h assassinated, 
and put in his place Ali, the Prophet's adopted son and 
son-in-law (655). At once the new caliph had two civil 
wars on his hands. An accusation of marital infidelity 
had been brought against Aicha, the favourite wife of 
Mohammed, and Ali had believed it. Her innocence was 
proved to the Prophet in a revelation, but she never for- 
gave Ali, and now rebelled against him. Mounted on a 
camel, she directed a campaign of one hundred and ten I ' 
days; after giving battle ninety times she was overcome 
and taken. 

9. The Ommiades. The Mussulman Schism, 660. — When 
the " war of the camel " was ended, a more serious strug- 
gle burst forth. The Ommiades, threatened by All's 
victory, had revolted, under the leadership of the Syrian 
governor, Moahwijah. Finally the two parties, weary of 
futile warfare, agreed to submit their cause to two arbi- 



THE OMMIADES AT DAMASCUS. 153 

trators, who should judge according to tradition and 
the text of the Koran. The judgment was against the 
Prophet^s son-in-law^ and Moawijah was proclaimed ca- 
liph. Ali, however, did not abdicate; he kept his position 
in Mesopotamia and Persia, while his rival fixed himself 
at Damascus. The Arabian empire, which had scarcely 
been formed, was thus cut into two parts; in the one was 
the orthodox party, or Sunnites, who, according to tradi- 
tion (sunna), recognised the legitimacy of the first three 
caliphs; in the other were the schismatics, or Shiites, in 
whose eyes Ali was the Prophet^s only direct and legiti- 
mate heir. Another sect, the Kharidjites, had been 
formed; they were uncompromisingly orthodox in re- 
ligion, and democratic in politics; they even denied the 
principle of the caliphate. Hence Ali and Moawijah were 
their common enemies. One of the sect tried to settle 
the controversy by a double assassination; but Ali was the 
sole victim (660). In the end the caliph of Damascus re- 
established political unity in the Arabian empire, but the 
religious schism still persists. 

10. The Ommiades at Damascus. The Political Element 
Strong^er than the Religious Element. — The victory of the 
Ommiades is the triumph of politicians over the founders 
of Islamism. Except in the two holy cities, the Arabs 
felt indifferent; Islamism was to them merely a perfunc- 
tory belief. The caliphs impeded rather than favoured 
conversion. The Mussulmans were exempt from a land 
tax required from subjects who professed another re- 
ligion: the Ommiades preferred to increase the revenue 
rather than the number of the faithful. True believers 
iwaxed indignant at this policy. On the death of Moawijah 
(679) All's partisans were roused; his younger son, Hos- 
sein, who had married a daughter of the late Sassanidean 
king, revolted. Attacked by the Syrian troops of Jezid 



154 ARABIAN EMPIRE. 

I., he was overcome and killed near Kerbelah (680). The 
spot where the martyr fell was as much revered as All's 
tomb. The Alides and the Kharidjites were successively 
attacked, the Ommiades fearing the political ideas of the 
latter; they were crushed after a war of extermination 
{685). 

11. Uprising of the Old Believers. The Two Holy 
Cities Taken and Sacked. — The old believers in Medina, 
scandalised by Jezid's conduct, who drank wine, hunted, 
surrounded himself with Bedouins, and never prayed, ex- 
communicated the caliph. Assembled in the mosque, each 
believer stripped off one of his garments, and cast it away, 
saying: " I cast off Jezid as I cast off my mantle, or my 
turban, my sandal! " The Ommiades were then all driven 
from the city. An army was sent out against the faithful, 
and routed them completely; Medina was taken and pil- 
laged during three days; the places hallowed by Mo- 
hammed's presence were profaned; the inhabitants, who 
were spared, were forced to proclaim themselves slaves of 
the Prophet. During this time, at Mecca, one of the 
Prophet's companions, Abdallah, son of Zobeir, of the 
tribe of Koreishites, had refused to acknowledge Jezid, 
and caused an uprising of the people on account of the 
^' martyr " Hossein. He thought himself secure in the 
holy city; but those who had profaned Medina did not 
hesitate to take Mecca. The year following all Arabia 
was subdued. Henceforth it ceased to be important; the 
centre of the Mohammedan world was no longer at Mecca, 
but at Damascus, among Christians and Jews. 

12. Conquest of Northern Africa by the Mussulmans. — 
A fresh impetus was given to the Arabian invasion. Dur- 
ing the first period the East had been subdued; in the 
second, the West was overrun. Hassan, governor of 
Egypt, took Carthage, which was forever destroyed (697); 




EUROPE 



END OF 7TH CENTURY 

695 



Roman Empire 

Teutonic Kingdoms 
Celts-- 



1 



10 




E. F. FISK, ENQR., N.Y, 



THE ARABS IN SPAIN, TARIK, 711. 155 

he subdued the Berbers, and laid the lasting foundations 
of Mohammedan dominion in Magreb, from Barca to the 
Atlantic Ocean (708). The Berber conquest had been the 
most difficult task to accomplish; it required seventy 
years of bloody struggle. Many of the Berbers were 
transplanted into Asia and replaced by Arabs; the re- 
mainder adopted Islamism, but they kept their customs, 
their language, and their institutions, which endure to- 
day in their descendants, the Kaybles. 

13. The Arabs in Spain. Tarik, 711. — Ceuta and the 
neighbouring country were^all that remained to the Greek 
empire on the African coast since the destruction of Car- 
thage. In 710 Count Julian was governor or exarch of 
this remnant of a province. Surrounded by Mussulmans, 
he had to depend on tardy reinforcements from Constan- 
tinople, or the Visigothic alliance. That same year King 
Vitiza died. He was a merciful prince, a friend to jus- 
tice and a sincere Christian, although inimical to the 
growing powers of the episcopacy. The clergy, therefore, 
has shown little esteem for his memory; it was to punish 
his excesses, so wrote later chroniclers, that God per- 
mitted the Arabian invasion. He left sons, but the nobles 
preferred Eoderick, who was known to be a good general. 
Vitiza's sons acknowledged him. Unfortunately Roderick 
affronted Count Julian by carrying oiff his daughter. 
Julian then turned to the Arabs; instead of fighting them, 
he entrusted to them his vengeance. Mousa, who had 
just succeeded Hassan, answered his appeal. He com- 
manded one of his lieutenants, Tarik, to cross into Spain; 
but, according to the express orders of the caliph, he 
charged him to use his light cavalry for exploration and 
pillage only, and return as soon as possible. Tarik landed 
near Algeziras, on the promontory of Calpe, since called 
after him, Djebel Tarik (mountain of Tarik, Gibraltar); 



156 ARABIAN EMPIRE. 

l^e met Eoderick and his army near Xeres, not far from 
ihe Giiad-al-Lete. The king, betrayed by Vitiza's sons, 
was routed, and disappeared, never to be heard of again 
(711), Carried away by this nnlooked-for success, Tarik 
forgot Monsa's orders. He surprised Cordova, took 
Oranada by assault, and occupied, without striking a blow, 
Toredo, the capital of the kingdom. Most of the Visi- 
^othie princes treated with the enemy; Vitiza's sons were 
of the number. They did not dream that the Arabs 
would remain in Spain, and when they saw their error, 
it was too late. 

14. Mousa. Visigothic Kingdom Ended. — The follow- 
ing year Mousa, who was envious of these successes, 
crossed the strait with a second army. He stopped 
Tarik at Toledo, to punish him for his disobedience, and 
continued alone the conquest of the country. Saragossa 
and the fortresses along the Ebro threw open their gates. 
Soon after he was recalled by the caliph, and made a tri- 
umphal entry into Damascus. Nevertheless, his loyalty 
was questioned; he was arrested, condemned to pay a 
heavy fine, then to be whipped, and was finally exiled to 
Mecca. The significance of the work he had finished was 
unrealised by him. The Arabs had the entire peninsula, 
except the mountains of Galicia, where the Christians 
held their ground. Their occupancy was a permanent 
threat to Christianity in the West. Spain does not seem 
to have suffered from it much; many Christians, weary of 
the oppression of their bishops, well treated on the con- 
trary by the Mussulmans, and eager to escape the pay- 
ment of tribute, were converted. In some localities the 
two races were mixed. Moreover, the Arabs brought with 
them excellent agricultural methods, which tended to en- 
rich the country, in the south especially. Four governors 
or emirs were appointed by the caliph. The country en- 



WHY DID TEE ARABS WITHDRAW? 157 

joyed under their rule a peace and quiet scarcely known 
with the Visigoths. 

15. The Arabs in Gaul. Defeated near Poitiers, 732. — 

The Arabs were not stopped by the Pyrenees. They 
again took advantage of their enemies' quarrels, and 
passed on into Gaul, over which the Neustrians, the Aus- 
trasians, and the Aquitanians contended. In 719 they 
took Narbonne, the capital of Septimania; in 725 they 
crossed the Rhone, ravaged Burgundy, and entered the 
Vosges; in 731 the}^ stormed Bordeaux, and pressed on 
to Tours, attracted by the rich church of Saint Martin. 
But they were stopped near Poitiers by the Austrasian 
duke, Charles Martel. There two races were pitted 
against each other: the Indo-European and the Semitic. 
Two religions were opposed: Christianity and Mohamme- 
danism, both of which promised paradise to the warriors 
who died for the cross or the crescent. Two army sys- 
tems were there tested: the heavy infantry of the Franks, 
and the light Berber cavalr}^ The two armies fought 
desperately all day, as if the fate of heaven and earth 
were at stake; but the Mohammedan soldiery could not 
break the thick ranks of the Franks, who pierced them 
with lances. They withdrew towards evening to tlieir 
tents, and under cover of the night they silently departed. 

16. Why Did the Arabs Withdraw ? — It was a great vic- 
tory for the Christians, and the first serious check which 
the Arabs had encountered since the death of Mohammed. 
However, this defeat did not arrest the invaders; they 
took the offensive in 743, and devastated Lyons. An 
eventful change was taking place among the Berbers dur- 
ing this time. The democratic doctrines of the KharidJ- 
ites had procured many followers among these people, 
jealous of their independence; in 740 they rebelled. It 
was henceforth impossible for the caliphs to send rein- 



158 ARABIAN EMPIRE. 

forcements to the West, still more so to withdraw them 
from Africa. This is the true reason of the Araljian re- 
treat. 

17. The Arabs Repulsed Before Constantinople, — In the 
meanwhile, at the other extremity of the Mediterranean 
world, the Arabs had attacked Constantinople: they as- 
sailed it by land and sea. Here, too, they were repulsed; 
Greek fire,* an exceptionally severe winter, and the Bul- 
garian invasions decimated their army. They lost more 
than twenty-five thousand vessels, and one hundred and 
forty thousand men. They suffered an another defeat in 
Phrygia, at the hands of Leo the Isaurian, which com- 
pelled them to desist (740). 

18. Political Institutions Under the First Caliphs. — The 
Arabian conquest had consumed an entire century, from 
the death of the Prophet (632) to the battle of Poitiers 
(732). The institutions, which were very rudimentary 
under the first four caliphs, were gradually modified. 
Originally the caliph, or " vicar " of Mohammed, had been 
chosen and resided at Medina; all the members of the Mo- 
hammedan community took an oath of fidelity to him. 
He wielded temporal power as caliph, and held spiritual 
sway as imam; he was pontiff, leader of the state, and 
judge. There were three sources of revenue: (1) the 
poor tax, which was required of every Mussulman; (2) the 
:fifth part of booty, reserved for the caliph; (3) the land 
tax, which was paid by all non-believing subjects. The 

* Greek fire seems to have been used for the first time by Callini- 
cus, an engineer of Heliopolis, in Syria, to burn the Saracen vessels. 
It was an explosive mixture, made of combustible materials, the 
essential ingredients being used later in gunpowder. It was pro- 
jected by means of bronze tubes, similarly to our projectiles, and 
thrown by hand, or in burning pots, which were launched from cata- 
pults. The Greeks kept the process secret for at least three 
centuries. 



THE ABBASSIDE8, 750. 159 

caliph rendered no account of his disposition of the 
treasure. 

19. The Ommiades. Bureaucracy and Hereditary Ca» 
liphate. — Omar borrowed of the Persians their bureau- 
cratic system or dioudn (divan, douane); the financial 
registers were held by Persians, Greeks, or Copts. Under 
the Ommiades the state mechanism was more compli- 
cated. Moawijah, who lived at Damascus, copied the eti- 
quette of foreign sovereigns: he received strangers, seated 
on a throne; he sat behind a grating when attending 
ceremonies in the mosque; he was accompanied by a body- 
guard. A chancellor's office was created. The exclu- 
sive use of the Arabian language was required in all offi- 
cial acts; also the exclusive use of Arabian inscriptions 
on all coins. These were dinars, or gold pieces worth 
about twelve francs, and dirhams (drachmas), silver pieces 
worth one franc. Justice was referred to cadis, from 
whose decisions appeal might be taken to a supreme court 
presided over by the caliph. The caliphate at last be- 
came an hereditary institution; this is not the least seri- 
ous innovation borrowed from civilisations which the 
fortunes of war had called upon them to perpetuate. 
They contracted a heavy debt to Persia after the revolu- 
tion which overthrew the Ommiades. 

20. The Abbassides, 750. Persia Victorious Over 
Arabia. — The Shiites had supported Ali and Hossein 
against the half -unbelieving caliphs of Damascus; after 
the victory of the Ommiades they fled to the extreme 
north of the empire, in Khorassan, where Buddhist doc- 
trines were generally received. Towards 750 the gov- 
ernor of this province, Abu Moslem, " who never 
laughed," revolted af Merv, unfurling the black flag of 
the Abbassides. They caused to be proclaimed that one 
of the Alides had bequeathed his powers to an Abbasside; 



160 ARABIAN EMPIRE. 

ihey falsified the text of the Koran, and Abul-Abhas, 
great-grandson of Abbas, the Prophet's uncle, was ac- 
knowledged. Meroiiin II., caliph of Damascus, was van- 
<jnished by the insurgents on the shores of the Zab, and 
pursued into Egypt, where he was killed. The struggle 
<ended in a frightful massacre; the representatives of 
ninety families of the Ommiades were invited to a ban- 
quet of reconcilation, and were there murdered. Abul- 
Abbas " the Bloody " died soon after (754). The capital 
of the new state was later established at Bagdad, on the 
middle Tigris, not far from the ancient capital of the 
Sassannides. Under the Abbassides Persia prevailed de- 
cidedly over Arabia, as formerly Damascus had done over 
Mecca, but the change was more profound than the pre- 
ceding one had been. 

21. Influence of Persia on Arabian Institutions. — In ac- 
cord with Persian ideas, the caliph became absolute sov- 
ereign; his person was regarded as half divine. He was 
■chief of the believers and supreme judge in questions of 
dogma. Subjects took the oath of allegiance, but if he 
failed in his duties they might unseat him. Insurrection 
is, truly, the sole remedy against despotism. The caliph 
possessed the right of life and death over all Mussulmans. 
His powers were often delegated to viziers, or a grand 
Tizier. The family of Barmecides gave three genera- 
tions of prime ministers to the early Abbassides: Khalid, 
Yahia, and the latter's two sons, one being the celebrated 
Cliaffar, of the "Thousand and One Nights." But it 
Tvas especially in all that concerned law, religion, science, 
and arts that Persian influence was felt. The first writ- 
ten collection of Mohammedan traditions was compiled 
l)y Bokkari (870), of Persian origin, whose teaching was 
followed, in Bagdad, by twenty thousand auditors. In 
Medina the Koraji had been interpreted as literally as 



RELIGIO US SECTS IN MOHAMMEDAN PERSIA. 161 

possible; in Chaldea, on the contrary, a freer reading was 
given to judicial and religious precepts. It was not suffi- 
cient to invoke the traditions and decisions of the early 
caliphs; reason was appealed to, and four great schools 
were formed, which exist to-day, and are all equally 
orthodox. 

22. Religious Sects in Mohammedan Persia. — Ortho- 
doxy endured, in Persia itself, most formidable attacks. 
Less intolerant than Christianity, the Mohammedan re- 
ligion permitted the existence of peculiar sects; one tra- 
dition claims that Mohammed himself foretold the for- 
mation of seventy-three religious sects in Islajnism. The 
greater number sprang up in Persia. They disputed two 
weighty problems which philosophy has not yet resolved; 
the unity of God, and predestination. A more serious 
phase was the unexpected revival of the old philosophical 
and religious ideas of Persia. The Barmecides were 
Zoroastrians or atheists. One of their all-powerful min- 
isters used to say: " I have been persuaded by the Arabs 
into everything; I have eaten olives, I have ridden on 
camels, I have worn sandals, but they have never been 
able to induce me to be circumcised." Such Mussulmans 
became, indifferent to God, as well as to the Koran; they 
passed on to doubt as well as incredulity. The sect of 
Soufis, founded about 815 by the Persian Abusaid, 
merged God and man into one. They asserted that 
through abstinence, rejection of all pleasure, and mortifi- 
cation of the flesh, man might be as the elect, or even as 
the angels, and receive the spirit of God, as Jesus had 
done. Hence human acts might become divine. But it 
was impossible while living in the world. So, in spite of 
what the Prophet had taught, — ^' there shall be no monas- 
tic life in Islam," — convents were soon erected in Kho- 
rassan and elsewhere. Mohammedanism,, like Chris- 



162 ARABIAN EMPIUE. 

tianity, was obliged to pay its tribute to a contemplative 
life. The Soufis had their saints and martyrs. Their 
religion, which appealed entirely to the imagination^ 
inspired the greatest Persian poets, who sang ecstatically 
of the passions of the mind, and often of the senses. 

23. Philosophy and Sciences in the Empire of the K\f 
bassides. — Philosophy is the younger sister of religion. 
At Bagdad the doctrines of the Greeks were taught. Aris- 
totle was translated; Persians and Syrians wrote com* 
mentaries on him who was the renowned doctor of ths 
Mohammedan scholastics before being that of the Chris* 
tian scholastics, their disciples. There were translations 
of the geographer, Ptolemy, the mathematician, Euclid, 
the doctors, Hippocrates, Dioscorides, and Galen. 
Mathematics, alchemy, and magic were cultivated suc- 
cessfully where formerly Chaldean science had flourished. 
The arts even were borrowed; the so-called Arabian 
architecture is entirely Persian in form as well as in 
origin. Poetry only, at least lyric poetry, remained 
faithful to Arabian traditions. Persian poetry, however, 
appeared gradually at the court of the Abbassides. 
Under Mahmoud the distinguished poet Firdouci (916- 
1020) wrote the "Shah ^meh, or Book of Kings," a 
kind of poetical history of ancient Persia. Persia thus 
became conscious of herself, in renewing ties with the 
past. 

24. Erudition and Poetry. — Erudition kept pace witH 
science. Under Haroun-al-Easchid, Khaiid compiled the 
first known dictionary. Solid encyclopedias of history 
and geography were issued by the Persian schools. Dur- 
ing Mansour's caliphate the earliest biography of Mo- 
hammed and the history of the first Mohammedan con- 
quests were written. Ibn Kiteibah composed a valuable 
epitome of universal history. Tabaria, in the tenth cen- 



DISMEMBERMENT OF EMPIRE OF ABBAS8IDES. 163 

tnry, treated the subject more fully; his account begins 
with the creation and ends with 924. The conquest of 
Persia by the Arabs and the accession of the Abbassides 
are treated with peculiar care. Macoudi, born at Bagdad, 
spent twenty-seven years in travel over the entire extent 
of the Arabian empire, gathering reliable information. 
He mastered the subject of Greek and Judaic antiquity; 
his " Prairies of Gold " is a real historical and literary 
treasure. In the story of Sindbad the Sailor the custom 
of making long journeys and the taste for travel are 
clearly shown; and these tendencies were a help to geog- 
raphy as well as to commerce. The x\rabian tongue, 
which was like Latin in its universality, spread the knowl- 
edge acquired at the price of so much effort through the 
West; it was the means of introducing Greek antiquity 
into Europe. It was in this way a large contributor to 
the first renaissance — that of the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries. 

25. Dismemberment of the Empire of the Abbassides. — 
The most brilliant epoch of the dynasty gf the Abbassides 
corresponds to the reigns of Haroun-al-Raschid (786-809) 
and his son Mamoun (813-833). After them, decadence 
was rapid. Spain had already broken loose from the em- 
pire; the last survivor of the Ommiades, Abd-er-Ehaman, 
had founded the caliphate of Cordova, in 755. The new 
capital soon rivalled Bagdad; it became the stronghold 
of the orthodoxy combated by the Abbassides. Some- 
what later the great-grandson of Ali, Edris, driven out 
of Arabia after an ineffectual uprising, roused Magreb and 
founded in present Morocco an independent state (785- 
793). Still another descendant of Ali, Ismael, founded 
the sect of Ismaelians, which fomented the greatest dis- 
orders in the empire, and led to fresh uprisings. The 
Ismaelians of the West seized Kairowan, the holy city of 



164 ARABIAN EMPIRE. 

the West; one of their chiefs, Said, had himself pro- 
claimed caliph (909). His fourth successor established 
the dynasty of Fatimites in Egypt. Although the 
Ismaelians kept the Koran, they interpreted it in an 
allegorical sense. Since the holy book commanded 
prayer, payment of taxes, war against the infidels, it 
meant, as they looked at it, to inspire in them a love for 
Ali and his descendants, hatred of his enemies, especially 
the first three caliphs; fasting was the silence which the 
initiated should observe concerning secrets confided to 
them, etc. These doctrines were taught in secret associa- 
tions or lodges, which admitted members only after ex- 
acting a promise of entire devotion — devotion which was 
often carried to the length of crime. 

26. The Sect of the Assassins, and the Old Man of the 
Mountain. — These ultra-Shiites soon came to an under- 
standing with the Ismaelians of the East, or Karmates, 
who took possession of a part of Irak, towards 900; their 
dominion was transient, but their doctrines and their 
ferocity were pepetuated among the Druses of Lebanon, 
and especially among the " eaters of haschisch," or Assas- 
sins, of Syria. This latter sect was founded in the 
eleventh century by Hassan Cabbal, who, after taking 
possession of a fortress, like an eagle's nest, in the district 
of Roudbar, to the north of Kazvin, founded a brother- 
hood which made numerous converts. He adopted the 
title of grand master, or Sheik (chief, Old Man) of the 
Mountain, having tinder his orders the three governors of 
Djebal, Kouhistan, and Syria. Beneath them in rank 
were the missionaries, the initiated, the companions, in. 
the order named; lastly the Assassins, sworn to death. 
As a preparation for martyrdom the grand master invited 
a young man, vigorous and determined, to a feast; he 
was there made intoxicated with the seed and the leaves 



CONCLUSION. 166 

of haschisch; he was given a drink prepared from this 
plant, then he was transported into delightful gardens, 
where he experienced, in a dreamy revery, the keenest 
pleasures of the senses. Convinced that he had seen 
paradise, he would no longer hesitate, on an order from 
his chiefs, to risk his earthly life to obtain eternal happi- 
ness. During two hundred years this horrible sect was 
the terror of the Orient; the Crusaders had occasion more 
than once to make the acquaintance of the Old Man of 
the Mountain. 

27. The Seldjuk Turks.— Thus the empire of the Ab- 
bassides was giving way on all sides. Not knowing in 
whom to trust, in the midst of heresies which were con- 
stantly springing up, they hired mercenaries ignorant of 
Arabian. The Berbers, then the Turks, formed the prin- 
cipal force of their armies. In the eleventh century a 
Turkish chief, Togrul Beg, grandson of Seldjuk, took pos- 
session of Ispahan and Bagdad, and founded the dynasty 
of Seldjuk sultans (military chiefs). About the same 
time' the caliphate of Cordova was broken up. After hav- 
ing given Spain three centuries of prosperity, it was 
ruined by civil discord, and disappeared in 1033, leaving 
seven small Mohammedan kingdoms in its place. 

28. Conclusion. Islamism a Permanent Danger for 
Christianity. — Glancing over the succession of Moham- 
medan conquests, it is seen that the Arabs bore a small 
part in the invasions. Though Arabia was the cradle of 
Mohammedanism, it was never more than a province of the 
Mohammedan empire. It was outside of Arabia, especially 
in Persia, that the new religion acquired its most fanatic 
adherents. On the whole, the Mohammedan religion has 
not added much to the general progress of humanity; al- 
though coming after Christianity, it did not carry a 
higher message to believers or free-thinkers. On the 



166 ARABIAN EMPIRE. 

other hand, by combining spiritual and temporal power, 
it promoted the canse of despotism; it placed religions 
fanaticism at the service of the state, and augmented con- 
tinually a force which was a constant menace to the 
Christian world. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE FAINEANT KINGS — FOUNDATION OF THE CAROLIN- 
GIAN DYNASTY CHARLEMAGNE.* 

1. The Sluggard Kings. — The period known as the 
'^ faineant " kings dates from the death of Dagobert. 
These later Merovingians merely pass across the stage; 
they succeeded to the throne as children, and most of 
them died young. They no Ipnger governed; it is true 
Toyal diplomas still bear the date of their reign, but it is 
not always known when these shadowy reigns begin and 

* Sources. — The continuation of the chronicle known as " Frede- 
gaire " (641-768). The " Gesta regum Francorum," until 1720. The 
various Carolingian annals, publislied in volume v. of Bouquet, and 
in volumes i, and ii. of the " Monunyenta Germanise " (principally the 
"Annales Laurissenses majores " and the annals known as Eginhard's); 
the " Vita Caroli," by Eginhard (translation by Turner and Glaister), 
is in the ' ' Monumenta Carolina, " edited by Jaffe, which contains also 
letters from the same author, and the '* Codex Carolinus," or corre- 
spondence between the Popes and the Frankish kings. The letters 
of Saint Boniface are in the " Monumenta Moguntina," also edited by 
Jaffe, and those of Alcuin, in the " Monumenta Alcuiniana," same 
editor. The " Gesta Caroli," by the Monk of Saint Gall, are a collec- 
tion of legends and anecdotes. There are biographies of the Popes 
in the "Liber Pontificalis," edition Duchesne (2 vols., 1884, 1893). 
Boehmer has given in his ' ' Regesta " a catalogue of the acts of the 
Carolingian kings from 752 to 918. M. Muehlbacher has revised 
and reedited them (1880-1899). 

Literature. — In the " Jahrblicher der deutschen Geschichte," 
works by Bonnell, Breysig, Hahn, Oelsner, and Abel and Simson ; 
Hodgkin, "Italy and Her Invaders." vols. vii. and viii.; Hodgkin, 
"Charles the Great"; Mombert, "Charles the Great"; Bryce, 
*• The Holy Roman Empire." 

167 



168 THE FAINEANT KINGS. 

end. Chroniclers of the seventh century depict them 
ioT lis, dragging out useless lives, buried in their villas, 
whence they issue on the days of assemblies, when the 
mayors of the palace show them to the people, riding in 
a cart drawn by oxen, driven by an ox-driver. The nobles 
were contending for the power in the three kingdoms,. 
and the struggle went on between Austrasia and Neustria. 
Victory fell to Austrasia from the first. This branch of 
the Frankish state was the most alert and pushing. One 
of its kings, Theodebert, was the first to assert his inde- 
pendence of the Empire, by coining money bearing hi& 
own name. • "While taking part in the struggles against 
the Visigoths, it was Austrasia alone which continued, 
during the seventh and eighth centuries, the conquest of 
Germany. The sympathies of the Church were with her, 
for her victories meant those of the Christian faith, and 
it was in Austrasia that the missionaries found their sup- 
port. In Neustria and Burgundy the Germans, in con- 
tact with the Gallo-Eomans, were losing their native 
energy in the ease of a more civilised life; but in Aus- 
trasia the population was almost exclusively Germanic,, 
and kept its characteristics through constant intercourse 
with the Germans beyond the Ehine. Whilst the mayors 
of the palace in Neustria were only the impotent de- 
fenders of a tottering monarchy, the mayors of the palace 
in Austrasia were chiefs of a military authority whicK 
aimed at the reality and profits of power. Energetic, in- 
telligent, and ambitious, first they dominated, then sup- 
planted, the incapable and weak descendants of Clovis, 
The Carolingian accession represented a new conquest of 
Gaul by the Germans. The centre of government was 
transported from the shores of the Seine to the Ehine; 
the Austrasian mayors of the palace had to subdue, not 
only northern France;, but to conquer all of the entire 



PlPPIlSr MAYOR OF THE PALACE. IBd' 

south of France, which was in part occupied by the Sara- 
cens, and the remainder, encouraged by. the weakness of 
the Merovingians, was living independently under native 
chiefs or, under the government of bishops, in various 
cities. 

2. The Mayors of the Palace. Amulf and Pippin, the 
Elder. — Two important families, whose chiefs were 
Arnulf and Pippin, dominated Austrasia in the begin- 
ning of the seventh century. Their possessions, watered 
and bounded by the Ambleve and the Roer, lay between 
the Meuse, the Moselle, and the Rhine. Yielding to their 
influence, Lothaire 11. granted Austrasia semi-independ- 
ence, under the control of Pippin, mayor of the palace for 
Austrasia, and Arnulf, who, although bishop of Metz 
since 615, continued to mingle in public affairs. They 
finally induced Clovis to recognise Austrasia as a king- 
dom, under the government of his son, Dagobert. A 
marriage between Ansegisel, son of Arnulf, and Begga, 
daughter of Pippin (630), strengthened the friendship 
of these two individuals. Their grandson Pippin of 
Heristal was the first of the dynasty of the Carolingians. 

3. The Mayors of the Palace in Neustria. Ebroin, 660- 
681. — About this time Ebroin, mayor of the palace in 
Neustria, having conqitered the Burgundian nobles com- 
manded by Leger, bishop of Autun, made an attempt to 
establish Merovingian unity, by forcing on Austrasia his 
king, Theodoric III. Pippin of Heristal resisted him, 
but was totally defeated at Laffaux near Soissons; he re- 
gained the ascendency after Ebroin was assassinated 
(681), conquered the Neustrian mayor Berthair, at 
Testry, and became the sole head of the Prankish king- 
doms. 

4. Pippin Mayor of the Palace for All the Prankish 
Kingdoms, 681-714.— He governed under four kings, up 



a*^0 TEE FAINEANT KINGS. 

to the time of his death. He reserved the personal direc- 
tion of Anstrasian affairs, the wars against the Frisians 
»and the Alemannians; Burgundy and Neustria were ad- 
jninistered by the two sons whom he had by Plectrude, 
Drogo and Grimoald. 

5. Charles Martel Succeeds Him. — After his death 
(714) his widow tried to seize the power, but Charles, son 
of another wife, contended for it. He shut up Plectrude 
in Cologne, vanquished the Neustrians, who had elected a 
Idng, and the Aquitanians, who had come to their aid, 
■had himself proclaimed mayor in both Neustria and Aus- 
trasia, under Theodoric IV., whom he withdrew from the 
monastery of Chelles to place on the throne; and when 
this king died, after a shadowy reign of sixteen years, he 
'did not deign to choose a successor. 

6. His Able and Successful Rule. — By means of his 
jsound home policy and his successful wars, Charles laid 
the foundations for the greatness of the Carolingian 
dynasty. He stamped out anarchy by forcing the leaders 
of the nobility and clergy to respect his authority. The 
iDishops were recruited from among the noble families of 
i;he country, as in the time of Gregory of Tours; although 
many, because of increasing barbarism, led a life more 
than secular. Certain ones, like Saint Leger, the rival, 
friend, and, at last, the victim of Ebroin, had become 
party leaders. Charles disposed of bishoprics as he 
wished. If a bishop of his own family were refractory, 
like Wido, abbot of Saint Waast and Saint Wandrille, he 
was merciless to him. On the other hand, he paid for the 
devotion of those who had helped him to success; he re- 
warded them by giving Church lands as beneficia, but 
exacted an oath of fidelity from them. He bargained 
Tather than fought with his rivals. He yielded the 
county of Angers to Eegenfried, who had disputed the 



CHARLES MARTEL'S WARS IN GERMANY. 171 

mayorality of Neustria. The powerful duke of Aqui- 
tania, Eudes (729-730), was first his enemy, then his ally, 
against the Arabs; and the great victory of Tours is 
doubtless due to the assistance of the Aquitanians. His 
victories earned him the name of Martel {Carolus MarteU 
lus, or the' Hammer). The despoiler of churches seemed 
to have become the most formidable champion of Chris- 
tianity. 

7. The Pope Vainly Solicits the Intervention of Charles 
Martel in Italy. — About this same time he was asked to 
interfere in Italy. The Lombard king, Luitprand, was a 
sincere Christian, and an able, enterprising politician. 
Although naturally hostile to Greek dominion in Italy, 
he was not, like most of his predecessors, an enemy of the 
Pope. He was anxious, rather, to subdue the inde- 
pendent Lombard dukes of Benevento and Spoleto. At 
one time he thought he had succeeded, but the dukes 
found an ally in Gregory HI. Luitprand then laid siege 
to Borne. In this distress the Pope should have claimed 
aid of the emperor, whose subject and deputy he was; but 
they had quarrelled about the question of image worship, 
and the bishop had severed all connection with the ex- 
archate of Ravenna. Gregory therefore turned to the 
leader of the Franks; he promised him, if he drove off 
the Lombards, to break off forever from the Empire of 
the East, and confer on Charles Martel consular au- 
thority. But Charles could not undertake a long and 
painful war in Italy when the Arabs were ever threaten- 
ing the valley of the Rhone. He refused the offers made 
him by three embassies, and remained Luitprand's friend, 
though without quarrelling with the Church. 

8. Charles Martel's Wars in Germany. — Beyond the 
Rhine Charles fought the Bavarians, who, like the Aqui- 
tanians, had acquired independence; the Frisians, whom 



172 THE FAINEANT KINGS. 

lie conquered in 732; and the Saxons^ whom he could 
never break. He looked favourably on the missionary 
ijvork of Saint Boniface, and thus outlined the policy 
"which Charlemagne was to render triumphant. 

9. Charles Martel's Sons Share his Power. Grifo's 
Bevolt. — Before dying (October 21, 741), Charles Martel, 
^ho since 737 had governed without a successor to Theo- 
doric IV., shared his power, as an hereditary possession, 
"With ihe two sons whom he had had by Rotrude: the 
oldest, Karlmann, had Austrasia, Swabia or Alemannia, 
and Thuringia; the younger. Pippin (surnamed the Short, 
"because of his small stature), received Burgundy, Neus- 
iria, and Provence. ISTeither Aquitania, nor Bavaria, nor 
Triesland was involved, since the Franks no longer ex- 
erted power there. Grifo, the son of a second wife, had 
a share, which was taken from the inheritance of the 
older brothers; but his mother v/ished the entire inherit- 
ance for him, and incited him to revolt. Grifo was van- 
'^uished and made prisoner in 741. Karlmann and Pip- 
pin, doubtless to strengthen their authority, reestablished 
Toyalty. Childeric III. came to the throne in 743; he 
was the last of the Merovingians, and one of the most in- 
significant. Affairs were simplified when Karlmann re- 
nounced his power in 747 and withdrew to the monastery 
of Monte Cassino. Left sole ruler, Pippin believed him- 
•self strong enough to liberate Grifo. The latter took 
advantage of his freedom to incite the Saxons to revolt; 
ihey were beaten, and he fled into Bavaria, where he had 
himself proclaimed duke, on the death of his grand-uncle 
Odilo. Pippin followed him up to his duchy, but treated 
liim honourably, on the whole, for he gave him Mans and 
iwelve cities — the very territory which was to be given 
later to Robert the Strong, ancestor of the Capetian' 
family. For two years Grifo was quiet; then he took up 



H 



PIPPIN'S DONATION, 754. 173 

arms for the third time, and fled to Waifar, duke of Aqui* 
tania. Pippin now resolved to make a decided move. 
Unhindered b}' the shadow of prestige lingering around 
Childeric III., he deposed the king and took his place. 
The transition from hereditary mayor of the Franks to 
hereditary king of the monarchy was an easy one. 

10. Pippin the Short Usurps the Crown, 751. He is 
Crowned by the Pope, 754. — This revolution was so 
natural that contemporaries did not realise its gravity. 
Pippin was first acknowledged king by the nobles as- 
sembled at Soissons (November, 751). It is said that 
when Pope Zacharias was consulted by some Prankish 
ambassadors, he replied that it was " better to call him 
king who had the kingly power." ■ Another Pope, Ste- 
phen XL, came in person to crown the new king. The 
ceremony, which took place at Saint Denis, recalled the 
consecration of the ancient kings of Israel and the close 
union of God and his chosen people. Pippin and his two 
sons were, at the same time, named patricians by the 
Pope — that is to say, protectors of the Roman republic 
and the Roman Church. The union of the Prankish kings. 
with the Church, inaugurated by the baptism of Clovis,. 
was thus made closer; it associated the two greatest forces 
which existed at that time in the Christian West — the 
temporal power of the king and the spiritual power of 
the Pope. Stephen 11. anointed also Pippin's two sons,, 
forbidding, under penalty of excommunication, the elec- 
tion of a prince descendant of another family. Who 
would then have ventured to doubt the legitimacy of the 
new reign? 

11. Pippin's Donation, 754. — To crown Pippin was not. 
the sole object of the journey performed by Stephen II. 
The Pope expected to persuade the king of the Franks 
to attack the Lombards, who, with King Aistulf, had re- 



174 THE FAINEANT KINGS. 

commenced their aggressive policy. This time he suc- 
ceeded. Pippin promised the Pope to obey him, to give 
him the exarchate of Eavenna, which the Lombards had 
Just conquered, and to render to the Roman republic its 
rights and property. The reality of the gift made by 
Pippin, since he disposed of something which did not be- 
long to him, has been often, though not authoritatively, 
denied. It meant war against the Lombards — whence 
Pippin would derive great advantage. It meant also an 
assertion of his independence of the Empire, a closer 
union with the Pope, and rich booty; this gift to celebrate 
his accession to the throne was an important political 
move. 

12. Pippin Snbdnes the Lombards and Founds the Tem- 
poral Power, 755. — He departed at once with the Pope 
and his followers. The pass over Mont Cenis was free, 
and he reached Pavia without striking a blow. Aistulf 
hastened to offer his submission; he promised formally to 
give up, to Saint Peter, Eavenna, and the other cities 
donated by Pippin. The Franks had hardly turned back 
when he took up arms, marched on to blockade Rome, 
pillaging the country and despoiling the churches of their 
most precious relics. Pippin was recalled in hot haste; 
he besieged Pavia, compelled the Lombard king to carry 
out the treaty of 754, which was made more onerous. 
Aistulf was killed by a fall from his horse not long after. 
Ratchis, his brother, who had entered a monastery, 
claimed the crown. But the Pope, urged by Pippin's 
agents, supported the duke of Tuscany, Didier, who rati- 
fied the treaties concluded by Aistulf. The temporal 
power of the popes was henceforth founded on a solid ter- 
Titorial basis. 

13. Pippin's Victories in Graul and Germany. — Italy 
once pacified, Pippin returned home to attack the Arabs^ 



RELATIONS OF ST. BONIFACE WITH POPE. ITS 

or Saracens; he retook Narbonne and Septimania. He^ 
conducted not less than eight campaigns against the^ 
Aquitanians, but did not conquer them until after the 
death of Duke Waifar, who was assassinated by one of his 
own people. Beyond the Ehine the Saxons maintained 
their footing, and the Bavarians regained their inde- 
pendence under Duke Tassilo; but on their own side of 
the river the Franks found powerful auxiliaries in the 
Christian missionaries, and an especial friend in the 
greatest among them, Saint Boniface. The conversion 
of Germany, begun in the sixth century by Irish monks^ 
was ended in the eighth by the Anglo-Saxons. 

14. Conversion of Germany. St. Boniface. — As early 
as 690 a Northumbrian monk, a disciple of the Irish, Wil~ 
librod, went among the Frisians. His preaching cov- 
ered a period of forty years. With the aid of Pippin oi 
Heristal he founded the bishopric of Utrecht. In 715 
he was joined by one of his compatriots, Wynfrith. Bora 
about 680 at Kirton (Wessex), Wynfrith entered the con- 
vent of Exeter, young, against his father's wishes. He 
studied seriously, and in turn taught successfully in a 
convent of Southampton. He had been a priest for five 
years when he went to Germany. In 718 he journeyed 
to Rome to offer his services to Pope Gregory II., who, 
after assuring himself that he possessed the necessary 
knowledge and courage, ordered him to "carry the word 
of God to unbelievers." Wynfrith then went to Thur- 
ingia, where he took up the work begun by Saint Kilian; 
thence he passed on into Hesse, where he baptised several 
thousand pagans. 

15. Intimate Relations of Saint Boniface with the 
Pope. — In 723 he went to the Pope to render an account 
of his early successes, who appointed him bishop, under 
(the name of Bonifatius, an approximate translation of his 



176 THE FAINJEANT KINGS. 

.Anglo-Saxon name (" who brings peace "). Boniface 
TOwed " never to attack the unity of the Church, but to 
give his entire faith, his purity, his zeal, to the service of 
the Holy See and to its vicar." The Pope gave him for a 
code a collection of the canons of the Church, and for a 
moral guide the correspondence of Gregory the Great 
with Augustine; he provided him with letters for the 
Prankish duke, Charles Martel, who took him under his 
protection. Armed with these instructions, with metro- 
politan authority, and the right to appoint bishops in 
Christian communities founded by him: invested, more- 
over, with the 'pallium j^ which the Pope sent him in 732, 
lie retraced his steps through Hesse and Thuringia and 
completed the conversion of Bavaria. Besides the bish- 
opric already existing at Passau, he established those of 
Salzburg, Frisingen, and Eatisbon (739). 

He founded monasteries purporting to be, not only 
asylums of peace and prayer, but schools for 5''0ung mis- 
sionaries. They were under the direction of his best dis- 
ciples: the one at Fritzlar was controlled by the Anglo- 
-Saxon, Wicbert, the Bavarian Sturm was at Fulda. He 
created for women, Bischofheim, and gave it into the 
Iceeping of the gentle, wise Lioba. The organisation was 
completed by the foundation of the archbishopric of 
llainz, which was the metropolitan see of entire Ger- 
many (751). The ecclesiastical constitution was, then, the 
first form of national unity for Germany as for England. 
This great work was alike a benefit to Germany, which in 
ihis way became a part of civilised society; to the Holy 
See, whose dominion extended, henceforth, undisputed be- 

* The pallium, the mark of the archbishop's office, was a scarf of 
Tsrhite wool with black crosses on it, in wool. It was often taken to 
mean the symbol of the lamb which the Good Shepherd carries on 
2iis shoulders. 



REFORM OF TEE FRANKISH CLERGY. HI 

yond the Rhine and the Danube; and even to Gaul, which, 
liaving furthered the efforts of the " Apostle of Ger- 
many," called him to reform the habits of the Frankish 
clergy. 

16. Reform of the Frankish Clergy. — The evil was 
widespread. The ecclesiastical hierarchy had been over- 
thrown during the civil wars; no bishops' names are re- 
corded, in the south, during this period. In the north 
there was often one bishop for two bishoprics; thus 
Charles Martel's brother, Drogo, held Rouen and Bayeux; 
and Milo, Reims and Treves; or bishoprics Were con- 
ferred on laymen, who squandered the revenues as they 
willed. With such pastors there was no restraint put on 
evil habits: clerks and monks abandoned themselves to 
intoxication, lust, vagrancy, hunting, and war. Those 
who remained faithful to their duties were starving, since 
Church lands had been given by Charles Martel, and even 
Pippin, to their soldiers. No council had been convoked 
for eighty years to check the evil. Pippin's brother, 
Karlmann, was the first to be aroused, and at his request 
Zacharius ordered Boniface into Gaul to direct the re- 
form. The prestige of his faith, works, and his submis- 
siveness to the Holy See clothed his mission with full au- 
thority. The task was accomplished by four councils, 
dissembled within six years (742-748). Faithless priests 
were degraded, unchaste monks and novices were beaten 
with rods, nuns were shorn; gaming, rich clothing, 
drunkenness, were forbidden. No one might exercise 
priestly functions unless consecrated and accepted by the 
bishop. It was decreed that each city should again have 
a bishop, that the metropolitans should have the rank 
and authority of archbishops,* with powers to supervise 

* The use of the term archbishop dates from the middle of the 
eighth century. 



178 THE FAINEA^^T KINGS. 

the habits of the clergy, and administer ecclesiastical jus- 
tice. On monasteries was enjoined strict observance of 
Benedictine rule; abbots, subject to the bishop and conse- 
crated by him, must be well versed in Scripture. There 
was an attempt to get back the property which had been 
taken from the churches, but the decree was not carried 
out; however, Boniface decided that a census of the prop- 
erty should be made, and that it should be returned to the 
clergy on the death of the proprietors. 

17. The Frankish Church Dependent on the Holy See. — • 
Thus constituted, the Frankish church was forced to ac- 
knowledge the authority of the Holy See. Boniface de- 
creed that the metropolitans should not exercise their 
new prerogatives until they had received the pallium from 
the Pope, as he had done at Mainz. And finally Boniface 
offered boldly to use ecclesiastical authority in the service 
of the Frankish kings. Public authority was henceforth 
represented in the person of the prince, the bishops, and 
the counts; the Church gave the support of religious con- 
secration to civil laws, just as the civil power guaranteed 
the execution of religious commands. Hence the close 
union between Church and State, which was the source 
of the greatness of the Carolingian empire. Charle- 
magne's legislation and the principles of his administra- 
tion were already embodied in the ecclesiastical policy of 
Boniface. The councils held by Boniface and the Frank- 
ish princes established order and discipline in the state, 
as in the Church, for there was the same staff for both 
civil and ecclesiastical administrations, and the two 
bodies were closely associated. 

18. Martyrdom of Saint Boniface, 755. — Boniface did 
not think he had done enough. At the age of sixty-five 
he set out to convert Friesland. On arriving near the 
present city of Dockum he was attacked by a body of 



DESTRUCTION OF TEE LOMBARD KINGDOM. 179 

pagans. He did not try to defend himself, but was mas- 
sacred with his servants and neophytes (June 5, 755). 
His disciples continued his work, which was completed 
under Charlemagne's firm rule. 

19. Charlemagne. Youth; Accession.^ — Charles was the 
oldest son of Pippin the Short. Born April 2, 742, he was 
twenty-six years old at the time of his father's death. He 
was fairly well educated; he could read and almost write; 
he spoke Latin as well as his own tongue, and understood 
SL little Greek. But he was, above all, a man of action, of 
iron will, and untiring activity, which was not broken by 
illness during thirty years. He first reigned with his 
younger brother, Karlmann, who inherited Burgundy, 
Provence, Gothland, Eastern Aquitania, and, in Aus- 
trasia, Alsace, Alemannia, Hesse, and Thuringia; but 
Karlmann died at twenty .(771), the Franks excluded his 
children from the throne, and Charles remained sole king. 
He was great as a soldier and legislator. Aquitania, 
Italy, Spain, and Germany were the scenes of his four 
principal wars. 

20. Submission of Aquitania, 769. — Hunold, who is 
mistakenly identified as the father of Waifar, took up 
arms in Aquitania. Defeated by Charles (769), he took 
refuge among the Gascons. Delivered up by them to the 
conqueror, he succeeded again in escaping. He went to 
Rome, then to the Lombards, where he was stoned to 
death a short time later. In order to dominate the coun- 
try, Charles built the fortress of Fronsac. 

21. Destruction of the Lombard Kingdom. — In Italy the 
king of the Lombards had at first lived on good terms 
with the Franks. Pippin's widow. Bertha, had even at- 
tempted to found a solid alliance between Desiderius and 
her sons; but Charles repudiated Desiderius's daughter a 
short time after marrying her. To avenge this insult, 



180 THE FAINEANT KINGS. 

the Lombard espoused the cause of Karlmann's widow, 
and made an attempt to gain the royal inheritance for 
her sons. He took Faenza and Comacchio from the Pope, 
since the latter would not countenance his designs, and 
pursued the aggTessive policy of Aistulf. These mutual 
affronts led inevitably to war; it burst forth in 773, after 
futile negotiations on both sides. Charles crossed the 
Alps as easily as Pippin had done eighteen years before, 
blockaded Desiderius in Pavia, while a portion of his 
troops went on to Yerona to seize Karlmann's widow and 
sons. The siege of Pavia dragging on indefinitely, 
Charles marched on to Rome. 

22. Charlemagne at Home, 774. He is Named Patri- 
cian. — He reached there Holy Thursday (April 2, 774). 
He was received with the honours formerly accorded a 
patrician and an exarch. Battalions of militia, led by the 
chiefs of the nobility, went out to meet him; young men 
from the schools bore olive branches and palms; all sang 
and cheered the king of France, defender of the Church. 
Thus escorted, Charles went on foot to Saint Peter's, 
where the Pope was awaiting him. He climbed the step& 
of the cathedral, on his knees, kissing each step devoutly 
as he went up. The king and the Pope kissed, and went 
into the church, amidst the shouts of the crowd, which 
sang: " Blessed be he who cometh in the name of the 
Lord! " After having witnessed all the ceremonies inci- 
dent to the holy days, Charles was asked to be present at 
a meeting held in Saint Peter's, where were the Pope and 
the principal members of the clergy and the nobility. 
There, near the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, the 
Pope recalled the promises of Pippin, which were sol- 
emnly renewed. Duplicate copies of the act were drawn 
up by a notary of Charlemagne, who signed the act, as did 
most of his followers; the paper was carefully deposited 



I 



ITALY'S SUBMISSION. 181 

in the archives of the Lateran. Unfortunately all traces 
of this document have long since disappeared. However 
the assertions of Pope Hadrian's biographer are ques- 
tioned by modern criticism, it seems improbable that the 
" pious and magnanimous Charles " should have given to 
the Pope central Italy entire, especially provinces which 
he did not possess, such as Corsica, Venetia, Istria, and 
the duchy of Beneventum. In any case, whatever may 
have been the terms of Charlemagne's gift, and although 
the Pope got with great difficulty but a part of it, this 
donation completed the work of Pippin, and the estab- 
lishment of the temporal power of the Holy See. But, 
on his side, Charles exacted all his rights as patrician; 
that is to say, supreme jurisdiction over Eome, and the 
duchy and the provinces of the exarchate; the pontiff be- 
came a subject of the king of the Franks, and his states 
were less an independent sovereignty than a kind of fief 
under the lordship of Charlemagne. 

23. Italy's Submission. — Having settled his aifairs with 
the Papacy, Charles returned to Pavia, which was finally 
taken after a siege of six months. Desiderius was shut 
up in the monastery of Corbie, where he passed the re- 
mainder of his life in holy living; Charles assumed, with 
the iron crown, the title of King of the Lombards (774). 
He then attacked the Lombard dukes, who had declared 
independence on the fall of national royalty. The duke 
of Spoleto acknowledged the authority of the Holy See. 
The duke of Friuli was killed while fighting the Franks, 
and his estates were taken. The duke of Beneventum, 
Arichis, submitted when Charlemagne had gone as far as 
Capua. Charles was now opposed by a league of the 
Avars and the Greeks v/ith Tassilo, duke of Bavaria, his 
vassal, but also son-in-law of Desiderius. The empress 
'Irene had apparently favoured a Prankish alliance, a mar- 



182 THE FAINEANT KINGS. 

riage had been arranged between her son Constantine 
and Eotrude, Charlemagne's daughter; but she broke off 
all relations with him, and sent an army to Apulia with 
Desiderius's son, Adelgis, whilst the patrician, Theodoric, 
governor of Sicily, was to invade the duchy of Beneven- 
tum. But the Avars were driven out of Friuli; Theo- 
doric conquered by the dukes of Beneventum and Spoleto; 
Adelgis taken and killed. Tassilo, arrested at the diet 
of Ingelheim, was condemned to death as a rebel, but waa 
pardoned and shut up for the rest of his days in the mon- 
astery of Jumieges (788). 

24. Italy Under Carolingian Government. — Italy was 
no longer a source of disturbance to Charlemagne. He 
governed it from a distance through his son, Pippin, 
whom he had crowned king in 781. Several times the 
Pope demanded the fulfilment of the promises made in 
t774; he cited a famous document which was then first 
mentioned in history, by which Constantine, first Chris- 
tian emperor, gave to the Pope Rome and the Occident 
entire. The deed was false; perhaps it had just been 
made up for the occasion. Charlemagne, without ques- 
tioning the validity of the gift, was in no hurry to yield 
all his conquests to the Pope. He maintained his politi- 
cal authority, even in countries subject to the Pope; he 
refused absolutely to yield his rights to Ravenna. Had- 
rian was, in fact, master of the duchy of Rome only, which 
had been much enlarged by the liberality of the Prankish 
king. As long as the Prankish empire maintained its 
strong power, the Pope was in the position of a powerful 
vassal, invested with regal rights, rather than in that of 
an independent sovereign. The Prankish king con- 
sidered Rome as a city of his domain, and early assumed 
to exercise a right of control in the election of the popes. 
Later on in history the German emperors wished to con- 



SUBMISSION OF THE SAXONS. 183 

iinue this dependent position of the popes. This was the 
cause of their struggles with the Holy See. 

25. Germany in the Eighth Century. The Saxons. — 
More time and effort were necessary for the Franks to 
conquer Cermany. Charles Martel, then Pippin and 
Karlmann, had succeeded in subduing the Thuringians 
and the Alemanni. They had allowed the Bavarians to 
Iceep their national dukes, but demanded allegiance from 
them. They had attacked and beaten the Saxons re- 
peatedly, but this noble people had fought off the Frank- 
ish yoke and the Christian religion. They occupied lower 
Germany entire, from the Eider on the north to the junc- 
tion of the Werra and the Fulda on the south; from the 
Elbe and the Saale on the east almost to the Rhine. 
They were composed of four or five principal groups: the 
Saxons of the west, Westphalians; those of the east, East- 
phalians; the Angrians the middle, and the Nordalbin- 
gians, between the Elbe and the Eider. They had kept the 
customs of primitive Germany ; the districts (Gaue) were 
governed by princes, from among whom the military 
chief or duke was chosen by lot, in time of war. How- 
ever, the duke was far from commanding the whole tribe, 
as the tribe was incapable of uniting in a struggle against 
an enemy. The Saxons had remained faithful to their 
gods, as to a sign of their national independence. Odin 
was their most important god, and their most revered spot 
was the wood surrounding the Irmensaule, a colossal tree 
trunk, which was, in their eyes, the column which sup- 
ported the world. 

26. Submission of the Saxons. — Germany could not be 
at peace as long as the Saxons were unsubdued and un- 
converted. It took Charlemagne thirty years and eight 
campaigns to conquer them. In 772 he went as far as 
the Weser, burned Irmensaule and the sacred wood which 



184 THE FAINI^ANT KINGS. 

surrounded it; in 775 he crossed the river, was victorious 
in every encounter, and forced his enemies to be baptised 
at Paderborn, and to give hostages. His religious and 
administrative laws were so irksome that they took up 
arms again; one of their chiefs, Widukind, ravaged the 
valley of the Ehine. For three years this adversary 
eluded Charles's grasp. In 780 it seemed as if he were 
at last conquered; the Saxons in the west lay down their 
arms, and Charles divided the country into counties, and 
built numerous garrison stations; at the same time he 
created new bishoprics and commanded Willehad to Chris- 
tianise the country between the Ems and the Elbe. 
Widukind reappeared, however, in 782; the new converts 
abjured; the priests and counts were driven out; an army 
of Franks was destroyed at the foot of the Sonnethal. 
This time Charles treated the Saxons as rebels, not as 
enemies; forty-five hundred hostages were mercilessly de- 
capitated, and he carried on a war of extermination. 
Widukind, brought to bay, delivered himself up to 
Charles, in his palace at Attigny, and consented to be 
baptised^ From that time on the hero of Saxon inde- 
pendence served his victor faithfully. Saxony remained 
quiet for eight years, and Charles could undertake the 
conquest of the Slavs to the east of the Elbe, and the 
Huns in Pannonia. In order to do this he was obliged 
to withdraw the troops in the subdued country, and the 
Saxons, tired of paying tithes and performing military 
service, like other subjects of the Franks, revolted. 
Charles exercised exceeding severity; many Saxon tribes 
were transplanted into Gaul and Italy, and were replaced 
by Slavs; new bishoprics were established, and perma- 
nent armies were stationed on the frontiers. In 804 the 
last rebels offered their submission; they were forced to 
accept Christianity, and acknowledge the judges ap* 



WJMS AGAINST THE ARAB&. 185 

pointed by Charlemagne, although they were allowed to 
keep their own customs. Charlemagne revised their laws 
and exempted them from all tribute except the church 
tax. The conquest was complete; not merely the ma- 
terial subjection, which leaves in the hearts of the van- 
quished nothing but sharp regrets and thirst for revenge, 
but above all, the moral and religious conquest was ac- 
complished. Saxony was destined to give Germany her 
first imperial dynasty, after the disappearance of the 
Carolingians; it was to be the centre of German civilisa- 
tion in the Middle Ages down to modern times. Hence- 
forth she was in the vanguard of European civilisation, 
as opposed to barbarism, which was thrust back beyond 
the Elbe. 

27. Charlemagne's Wars Against the Slavs and Danes. 
— Charlemagne attacked vigorously this fresh onslaught 
of barbarism. In 796 the Franks reached the fortified 
camp of the Avars, and carried off their treasure, rich 
booty, which was divided among the apostolic churches in 
Eome and Charlemagne's palatines. Meanwhile a breach 
was made in the main body of the Slavs: the Obo tribes 
had early treated with the Franks, doubtless through 
hatred of their neighbours, the Saxonsj but there were 
others to subdue. The Sorabes, Wiltzi, the Bohemian 
Czechs who were subdued and obliged to furnish auxili- 
aries in the Frankish army; but they kept their national 
chiefs and no tribute was exacted of them. Lines of for- 
tifications along the Eider held the Danes in check, al- 
though with difficulty. 

28. Wars Against the Arabs. Roncesvalles, 778. — 
Each victory of Charlemagne over the Avars, the Slavs, 
the Scandinavians, the Germans was an advantage to 
civilisation. This barbarian, a kind of lieutenant of the 
emperor, and protector of the Church — since he was patri- 



186 TEE FAINEANT KINGS. 

cian — ^was defending the interests of Roman and Chris- 
tian Europe, Avas extending the Empire. He attacked the 
Arabs also; but there he came in contact with a civilisation 
at least the equal of the one he was spreading, and one 
more fertile in resources; therefore his success was not as 
brilliant nor as lasting. Pippin had accomplished an 
essential work by forcing the Arabs back over the Pyre- 
nees; the Arabs themselves summoned Charles to cross the 
mountains. While he was holding a diet at Paderbom 
(777), several emirs who had revolted against the caliph 
of Cordova solicited his aid. Charlemagne listened to 
their prayers, and the following spring he invaded Spain, 
on two sides, simultaneously. He took Gerona, Pampe- 
luna, and Barcelona, but failed at Saragossa, and beat a 
hasty retreat. In the pass of Eoncesvalles his rear 
guard was suddenly fallen upon by the Gascons, who held 
the heights above them: the Franks, taken unawares, 
perished to the last man. There died Eccehard, the king's 
steward, Anselm, count of the palace, and Roland, count 
of the frontier of Brittany. This event, which has been 
exaggerated and embellished by popular imagination, be- 
came the subject of the finest of mediaeval epic poems, the 
^' Chanson de Roland." Charles was unable to avenge 
the affront immediately, he merely had Lupus, duke of 
the Gascons, killed. The Arabs took back, one by one, 
their conquered cities; in 793 they invaded Septimania, 
and vanquished near the Orb William the Pious, count of 
Toulouse, renowned in the chansons de geste as William 
Short Nose. They were soon driven out of the province, 
and pursued to the Ebro; Barcelona was recaptured after 
a siege of two years and the march of Gothia was estab- 
lished, to hold them in check. In the Mediterranean 
these Arabs, more often termed Saracens, ravaged the 
Balearic Islands, Sardinia, and Corsica, while the Scandi- 



EMPIRE OF TEE WEST RECON'STITUTED. 187 

navian pirates were beginning their depredations on the 
northern coasts. This was a double danger which Charle- 
magne could but foresee, and to which his descendants 
succumbed. 

29. The Empire of the West Reconstituted, 800.— 
Thirty years of wars and conquests brought marked re- 
sults. Since Theodosius the Great no leader of the 
state had reigned so brilliantly, no one had so well em- 
bodied the imperial idea; that is to say, the union of the 
peoples of the West under one sceptre and of consciences 
under one religion. Now, in the last year of the eighth 
century many considered the imperial throne unoccupied. 
Irene, having reigned in the name of her son, did not fear 
to set him aside and to take his place, first having his eyes- 
put out. This sacrilegious usurpation was a precedent; 
it facilitated the restoration of the Empire to the advan- 
tage of Charlemagne. The popes disliked the idea; they; 
had long been subjects of the emperor, and preferred a 
master at a distance, who had little power. But circum- 
stances forced them to sacrifice their desire of inde- 
pendence to their fears. Hadrian I. died in 795, after a 
reign of twenty-five years; his successor, Leo III., had to 
struggle with the factious passions of his adversaries, 
the first of whom was Hadrian's nephew, the primate Pas- 
cal. One day, in the year 799, he was attacked in the 
midst of a religious ceremony and dragged from his horse; 
twice there was an attempt to pull out his eyes and his 
tongue. Nevertheless, he succeeded in escaping, andi 
reached Charlemagne, who had him taken to Rome, undec 
a military escort of chiefs and bishops. The numerous 
friends whom the king of the Franks had among the 
clergy had already started the idea that it was imperative 
to break off relations with the Empire of the East, the 
stronghold of despotism and heresy. Charles had been 



188 THE FAmtANT KINGS. 

proclaimed patrician twent3^-five years before; was it not 
still more to their interest to name him emperor? 
Charles came to Eome in 800. His first act was to sum- 
mon before his tribunal the Pope and his accusers; none 
of the latter appeared. The Pope, on the contrary, " in 
the presence of everyone, mounted the pulpit of Saint 
Peter's, bearing the Gospels, and having invoked the Holy 
Trinity, he purified himself of the crimes which were im- 
puted to him.'' His enemies were arrested, charged 
with lese-majeste, and condemned to death, but at the re- 
quest of the Pope Charles granted them their life, and 
sent them into exile. In the meanwhile Christmas cere- 
monies were celebrated with great pomp; Charles went to 
Mass at Saint Peter's. "At the moment when he kneeled 
down to pray, before the altar, the Pope placed a crown 
upon his head, and all the Eoman people shouted: ' To 
Charles Augustus, crowned of God, great and pacific em- 
peror of the Eomans, life and victory! ' After this proc- 
lamation the pontiff bowed down before him, adored him, 
following the custom established in the time of the an- 
cient Caesars, and henceforth Charles, giving up the name 
of the patrician, bore that of emperor and Augustus." 
Charles seemed surprised, but it is difficult to believe that 
the surprise was sincere. Yet he may not have been un- 
troubled as to the legitimacy and the consequences of this 
bold act. What had just happened — ^the coronation by 
the Pope's own hand, the acclamation of the people, the 
applause of his own warriors — all was irregular, if not 
revolutionary; yet the deed was done. Charlemagne ac- 
cepted it, and one might believe that the Eoman Empire 
was restored. Actually the emperor and Pope had 
founded a German and Christian empire, for which Eo- 
man traditions were to be, later, a source of deception and 
ruin. 



RELATIONS WITH THE CALIPH OF BAGDAD. 189 

30. Charlemagne's Friendly Relations with the Greek 
Emperor. — Charlemagne in no wise intended to build up 
a power to rival that of Constantinople; on the contrary, 
he assumed to live on good terms with the sovereign who 
still possessed so many rights in Italy. He treated with 
the Empress Irene, whose hand, it is said, he asked in 
marriage. When she was overthrown (801) he succeeded 
in having his imperial title officially recognised by the 
Byzantine chancery; in return for which he gave up to 
the Greeks Dalmatia and Venetia (811); Greek merchants 
came to the fairs at Aix-la-Chapelle, and Venetian mer- 
chants travelled freely through Greece. 

31. Relations with England. — The influence of Charle- 
magne extended beyond what might be considered then 
the limits of the Empire. After the death (796) of the 
powerful king of Mercia, Offa, with whom he was unable 
to establish friendly relations, he interfered twice effect- 
ively in England: his legates, acting with the Pope's, es- 
tablished on the throne of Northumbria Eardwulf, who 
had been driven off by a sedition. He helped to bring 
back to the throne of Wessex (802) Egbert, who had, it is 
said, lived thirteen years at his court and served in his 
army. A later legend goes so far as to relate that Charle- 
magne had subjugated England. Should not a Eoman 
emperor reign in Britain? The leaders of the small 
Irish kingdoms were lavish in their expression of sub- 
mission. 

32. Relations with the Caliph of Bagdad. — From the 
other extremity of the civilised world the caliph of Bag- 
dad, Haroun-al-Easchid, sought his alliance against the 
Greek emperor of the Orient, and against the caliph of 
Cordova. Two embassies were exchanged, in 801 and 
807. Among the presents sent Charlemagne by the 
caliph, the one which aroused the most lively curiosity 



190 TEE FAINEANT KINGS. 

v/as an elephant, brought, not without difficulty, to Aix- 
la-Chapelle. It was named Aboulabasand; its sudden 
death was recorded in the Carolingian annals as a great 
event. The sending of the keys of the Holy Sepulchre 
was less commented on, although it led to great conse- 
quences in the future, since it conferred on the king of 
the Franks a right of protection oyer the holy places of 
Palestine. 

34. Charlemagne's Death, 814. Physical and Moral 
Traits. — Charlemagne had been reigning for fifty-five 
years. For a long time fatigue seemed to leave no mark 
on his strong constitution; but since 810 frequent at- 
tacks of fever warned him to save his strength. He 
paid no attention to them, and after an acute attack, 
lasting six days, he died, January 28, 814, aged seventy- 
two. Eginhard, or Einhard, his historian, left the fol- 
lowing description of him: " He was stout and vigorous, 
of good stature, although his neck was short and thick, 
and he had a large, prominent abdomen; yet he was so 
well proportioned that these defects were not noticeable. 
His eyes were large and bright, the nose somewhat long; 
he had beautiful white hair, and an open, pleasing counte- 
nance. His step was firm, and his whole bearing was 
virile, but his thin voice was not in keeping with his size.*' 
Like all the members of his family, he had given up 
wearing his hair long, in the Merovingian way. He wore 
no beard, and his moustache was thin and drooping. His 
costume was simple, consisting of short stockings, 
breeches, a shirt, a linen tunic, over which fell a short 
mantle, opening on both sides. In winter a jerkin of 
marten or otter completed the costume; and when hunt- 
ing a sheep's skin was his extra wrap. He was passion- 
ately fond of violent exercise; and in the pool at Aix-la- 
Chapelle he delighted in hot and cold baths, and in 



CHARLEMAGNE'S DEATH, 814. 191 

swimming in company with his court. He was a large 
eater, and found the Church fasts most irksome, but he 
drank little. He was incontinent, having no less than 
nine wives, who bore him many children; in this respect 
he remained a barbarian; but if one considers his adminis- 
tration after his wars, he appears like a barbarian of 
genius. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

EMPIRE OF THE FRANKS — CAROLINGIAN CUSTOMS AND 

INSTITUTIONS.* 

1. The People's Share in the Making of Laws. — In 

Charlemagne's legislation the laws or customs peculiar to 
each people of the empire are distinct from the capitu- 
laries, or royal orders applicable to all the petty states or 
to the princely domains. Charles had a written revision 
made of those laws which were handed down by oral tra- 
dition; others, especially the Salic law, were drawn up 
anew, and those articles were revised which were no 
longer in accord with the spirit of the time, or with the 
interests of the Church. The fresh transcriptions, addi- 
tions, and corrections were made under the supervision 
of those who, in each tribe, knew the law best, and who 
were approved by the people. Hence the adage: Lex fit 
consensu populi et constitutio7ie regis. The people bore 
a passive part in the making of the capitularies. They 
were proposed by the king, but were discussed in the an- 
nual assemblies of the nobles. 

2. The General Assemblies of Spring and Autumn. — 
The general assemblies met once a year, in spring or sum- 
mer. A smaller assembly was convoked in autumn, to 

* Sources. — " Capitularia regum Francorum," edition Boretius, 
volume i, (1881-1883). Hincmar: " De oridine palatii," published, 
annotated, and translated by M. Prou (1885). 

LiTEKATHRE. — Works of Viollct, Glasson, Fustel de Coulanges, 
and Waltz as above, . chapter vii.; West, "Alcuin"; Mullinger, 
** Schools of Charles the Great." 

192 



THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES. 193 

confer on measures of urgent necessity. The former, or 
Champs de mai, were always the more important. There 
were gathered there the nobles of the kingdom, both 
clerical and lay, the principal functionaries, and, if a 
campaign were on foot, all those who were called for mili- 
tary service. They brought presents to the king, which 
were sent by his subjects. They met at some royal resi- 
dence — Attigny, Quierzy, Paderborn, Ingelheim, or Aix- 
la-Chapelle — and deliberated in the open air, or, when 
the weather was bad, in a hall arranged for that purpose. 
The capitularies, proposed by the king, and which had 
been drawn up by notaries, were submitted to the nobles, 
but the king did not appear in their midst. If they 
raised objections or proposed amendments, messengers 
were sent to him and brought back his reply. When 
everything was agreed, the capitulary was read before the 
mass of freemen. They were not called upon to deliber- 
ate, but their approbation was necessary, and, naturally, 
nothing was proposed which might call forth a refusal. 
The autumn assemblies were less frequented; counsellors 
and functionaries came to render an account of their ad- 
ministration to the king, and prepare with him the work 
for the following year. The constitution of these gen- 
eral assemblies, which assumed an importance and regu- 
larity which the assemblies of the Merovingian period 
never acquired, indicates the deep change which had 
taken place in the social condition: the aristocracy, tri- 
umphant over monarchical despotism, through the mayors 
of the palace, occupied henceforth in the Carolingian 
government a predominant place, which it kept long 
into the Middle Ages. The close union of Church and 
State is apparent, for these assemblies of prelates, great 
lords, and functionaries were also synods which adjusted 
religious questions. Under a powerful king, with the 



194 EMPIRE OF THE FBANKS. 

prestige of a man like Charlemagne;, the royal will made 
itself felt in spite of the assembly. But when royal au- 
thority lost its grasp;, the nobles were the governing 
power. 

3. The Court of the Carolingn-an King. — The character 
of Carolingian royalty, like the Merovingian, was essen- 
tially personal. The court was an indispensable institu- 
tion, which increased in size and brilliancy with the 
reestablishment of the empire. It was composed of an 
extensive body of officers, which formed the central 
administration (Palatium), the members of which were 
called Palatines. 

4. The Palatines* — The Palatines were divided into two 
classes: the Ministri and the MinisteriaUs. The first iu 
rank was the high almoner, or rather archchaplain, who 
controlled all the clergy of the palace, the so-called 
"chapel," in allusion to the cope of Saint Martin, which 
was the most precious relic in the palace oratory. The 
high almoner, chosen by the king with the approval of 
the clergy and the Pope, was both an intermediary be- 
tween the king and clergy and a representative of the 
clergy and Pope to the king. N'ext in order was the 
high chancellor, or chief notary, who drew up the royal 
precepts or decrees. There was a distinction between the 
Merovingian referendaries, who were laymen, and the 
Carolingian notaries, who were members of the clergy, 
and as such, subject to the high almoner; therefore the 
two offices of chapel and chancery were closely united. 
The count of the palace was of corresponding rank, in 
the secular order, with the high almoner; he was especially 
an officer of justice, cognisant of all matters brought to 
the king's tribunal; however, since the elimination of the 
office of mayor of the palace, he had also general direc- 
tion of secular affairs. Yet he never attained to such 



POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS. 195 

great political power as did the mayor of the palace. 
The chamberlain {oamerarius), who was on the contrary 
a secondary agent under the Merovingians, was often em- 
ployed in important political and military affairs, al- 
though, in his proper functions, he regulated court cere- 
monial and received the annual gifts from the nobles. 
The seneschal (dapifer) shared with the count of the 
palace in the inner administration of the royal houses, 
but his especial province was the princely table, as the 
cellarer's was the wine cellar, and the constable's (comes 
stdbuli) the stables. 

5. The Ministeriales. — These were the low officers of 
ihe palace, as the porter, the beadle, the commissary, 
marshal, master of the hounds, grooms, etc. They never 
played any part in politics. 

6. The King's Council. — As early as the beginning of 
the eighth century there appeared, near the person of the 
king, clerical and secular counsellors, regularly appointed 
confidants of the sovereign, on whom was enjoined the 
most absolute secrecy concerning the conversations held 
with him. The high officials of the palace were recruited 
from among their number. There were also at court 
the students of the palace school, the hosts of servants 
and men-at-arms who never left the court, as well as 
the merchants of all kinds who were attracted by the 
courtiers. 

7. Political and Administrative Divisions of the Prank- 
ish Empire. — Counsellors, high officers of the palace, gen- 
eral assemblies; such were the principal organs of the 
central government. The local administrative * system 
was different. In 781 Charlemagne created the two king- 
doms of Aquitaine and Italy; he placed his two sons, 
Louis and Pippin, over them as kings; but the kingdoms 
were not independent; they did not cease to form an in- 



196 EMPIRE OF THE FRANKS. 

tegral part of the Frankish kingdom. So it was wKeU 
Charlemagne divided his empire between his three sons, 
in 806. If Charles, Louis, and Pippin did actually take 
possession of their shares, which is not certain, Frankish 
unity did not suffer by it. In that vast empire which 
stretched from the Ebro and Yulturna to the two seas 
and the Eider on the north, and from the Atlantic to the 
Elbe and the Theiss, a distinction must be made between 
the countries governed directly by the emperor's agents, 
the tributary states which kept their national dukes, as 
did Gascony and Brittany, and the Papal States, theo- 
retically independent under the authority of the Pope. 
In the first group, comprising ancient Gaul almost en- 
tire, all Germany, and half of Italy, the administrative 
division was the county (pagus, civitas, Gau). 

8. The Count. — As a rule there was a count to each! 
county. The counts were named by the king, perhaps 
for life, but always removable. They were mostly chosen 
from among the most important landed proprietors; in 
Saxony they were designedly taken from the oldest noble 
families of the country. They had extended powers in 
the affairs of the army, justice, and finance; they sat in 
the annual assemblies, and took part in the making of 
capitularies, which they were later ordered to enforce. 
They had no salary, but were entitled to a third of the 
royal revenues; moreover, they often received "bene- 
fices '' for the services they rendered. For these benefices 
they took a special oath of fidelity to the king, so that the 
latter found it to his advantage to confer these grants on 
all these counts, whatever might be their personal estates, 
so that they might be bound to him by ties of vassalage. 
In France the count was aided and replaced, if necessary, 
by a lieutenant of his own choice, who was called, after 
the eighth century, viscount (vice comes); to dispense jus- 



THE DUKES. 197 

tice in the lower tribunals, he had agents, likewise chosen 
by himself, named vicars or centenars. These subordi- 
nates the count paid in the same way that the king paid 
him; he conferred grants upon them, which were taken, 
naturally, from his own personal property, or allodium, 
not from the land which he had received from the king. 
His agents became thus his vassals, just as he had become 
the vassal of the king. 

9. The " Missi Dominici." — These great landowners, 
invested with kingly authority, might abuse their powers. 
Charlemagne had them supervised by temporary envoys 
{missi dominici), who were unknown to the Merovingian 
period. They were priests and laymen, invested during 
the time of their appointment with royal power to dis- 
pense justice, inquire into the needs of the people, and 
correct abuses. In 802 Charlemagne made this office a 
regular one; the kingdom was divided into departments; 
an archbishop and a count were apportioned to each 
region; sometimes two laymen were associated with an 
archbishop, or two ecclesiastics alone. Apparently the 
missi were named each year, perhaps by the general 
assembly. In 812 they were required to make, annually, 
four rounds of inspection lasting a month each, and send 
in a report to the emperor each spring. Although not 
altogether agreeable to the counts and the bishops, the 
regulation was one of the benefits of Charlemagne's reign. 

10. The Dukes. — In addition to the counts are found 
dukes. Charles continued the national dukes in Brit- 
tany, Gascony, and Italy, at Spoleto and Benevento; but 
he abolished them entirely in Germany. The ducal ofiice 
was simply a military one, in the region which was di- 
rectly under a duke's supervision. Charlemagne organ- 
ised special commands along the frontier most open to in- 
vasion, the so-called marches; of these there were, the 



198 EMPIRE OF THE FRANKS. 

march of the Goths to the north of the Pjrrenees, tEei 
land governed by Eoland on the frontier of Brittanyj 
(later the county of the Maine), and the marches estab- 
lished as a protection against the Danes, the Sorbes, and! 
the Avars, etc. They were ruled by counts, who were 
also called dukes or prefects, but more often marquises 
or markgraf en. As to the cities, we nowhere find in them 
governing agents representing the central power. 

11. Bishops. Charlemagne's Freedom of Choice. — The 
bishops, in addition to the counts, were the principal 
agents of Charlemag-ne, whom he chose, like the latter, to 
suit himself. They were chosen with care, however, 
often from among the novices in the palace school, whose 
studies and conduct he could watch himself. Birth was 
not a consideration with him: he preferred sons of f reed- 
men or serfs, if they were worthy of the episcopal office, 
to sons of nobles, if the latter were indifferent or lazy. 
He commanded them to live amicably with the counts, 
and to work jointly with them in the maintenance of 
order; at the same time he placed them under the metro- 
politan, who assumed henceforth the title and rank of 
archbishop. There were also special bishops for the 
rural districts, chore pisco pi, or country bishops; the office 
was kept up, here and there, into the middle of the tenth 
century, but it gradually disappeared, and the duties were 
assumed by arch-deacons, entrusted with the material ad- 
ministration of the diocese, and partly by parish priests, 
who were fixed in their office. Priests might be named 
either by the king, bishops, or individuals who had en- 
dowed churches. 

12. Canons. — In order to establish perfect discipline 
among the city clergy Charlemagne made general an in- 
stitution established in 760 at Metz by Bishop Chrode- 
gand, who had gathered his priests around him and had 



JUDICIAL ORGANISATION. 199 

compelled them to live under a monastic rule (canon) bor- 
rowed from Saint Augustine. They were called canons 
(canvnici), and the college was termed a chapter. 

13. Monastic Reform. Saint Benedict of Aniane. — The 
abbots, as well as the bishops, were often named by 
Charlemagne, who did not hesitate to place laymen in 
control of monasteries. The manners and morals in re- 
ligious houses of monks and nuns were carefully watched; 
they adopted, or were forced gradually to adopt, the Bene- 
dictine rule, reformed in 817, by the Goth Yitiza,* known 
to religion as Saint Benedict of x^niane. The bishops 
iwere required to maintain the discipline; although several 
monasteries had thrown off the jurisdiction of the ordi- 
nary (bishop) to be under direct control of the Pope: they 
were known as "exempts." The two important public 
services of the citizen of the Carolingian state were the 
judicial system and the army. 

14. Judicial Organisation.— There were two judicial 
innovations which should be noticed. The obligation of 
all freemen to be present at the judicial assemblies, which 
were frequent, had grown burdensome, especially to poor 
men. Charlemagne decided that there should be but two 
or three compulsory sessions a year. In the second place, 
the former rachimhurgi disappeared and were replaced by 
the scabini. They were chosen by the king's envoys or 
the count from among the "important persons fearing 
Ood ''; they swore to judge justly and honestly; unworthi- 
ness was the sole cause for removal; they were actual 
magistrates. Seven scabini were usually required to be 
present at the sessions of the tribunal, although the num- 
ber was not fixed. The institution was completely organ- 
ised and genera] after 803 throughout the empire, ex- 
cept in Friesland, where the name and office were un- 
known. The assizes were held by the count in various 



200 EMPIRE OF THE FRANKS. 

places, in suitable halls sheltered from the weather, but 
never in churches; he might be represented by his lieu- 
tenant (missus comitis, vice-comes) or by inferior judges, 
centenarius or vicar, except in important cases. When 
the king's missus was on his circuit he administered jus- 
tice in the same tribunals and in the same forms as did 
the count. There were no scabini in the king's tribunals; 
there the assessors were nobles and palatines, clerical and 
secular. 

15. Administration of Justice. — Charlemagne watched 
closely the administration of justice; he declared himself 
the protector of the innocent and the oppressed, espe- 
cially the poor; judges were forbidden to receive presents. 
It was a common failing. Judges accepted everything; 
poorer clients brought linen and woollen stuffs, shoes, 
gloves, boxes for manuscripts, rolls of wax for writing 
tablets. A bishop of Orleans, Theodulf, who was missus 
in 798, describes a precious vase that was accepted by some 
official: " The exterior was effaced, but the river Ache- 
lous was still visible, Hercules and Nessus struggling for 
Deianira, the tragic end of Lichas, and the defeat of An- 
taeus; the interior represented the cavern of Cacus, and 
Hercules trampling under foot the conquered monster." 
Theodulf himself accepted merely small presents: fruits, 
eggs, milk, goat's milk cheese, and fowls. In Eacine's 
time Chicaneau tempts Dandin with a quarter-cask of 
muscatel. The custom of giving epices, presents, ta 
judges goes back to the time of Charlemagne, and con- 
tinues until the French Revolution. 

16. Military Service. Formation of the Army. — There 
was no standing army. When war brol^e forth the order 
to take the field was issued by royal proclamation (han- 
num, her ih annum). Military service was not compulsory 
on all freemen, but on proprietors alone. Towards the 



J 



FINANCE. 201 

end of his reign Charlemagne specified those who were 
liable for service. Those who possessed a certain num- 
ber of manses, farms, — two, three, four, — according to the 
year, must enlist. Those who owned fewer joined with 
others in such a way that one would join the army and 
the others would pay him an indemnity in money, which 
took the place of pay. Counts were obliged to keep a 
list of all who were answerable for service. Those who 
failed to answer the royal summons, except for cause,, 
were fined. There were few legal exemptions. The 
palatines, certain agents of the counts, bishops or abbots 
alone were privileged. Service was required of members 
of the clergy: the bishop or abbot led his men to war, as 
a lay noble did. The soldiers equipped and fed them- 
selves at their own expense. The length of service was 
not stated; but a capitulary of 811, ordering soldiers to 
provide themselves with food for three months, counting 
from the day when they should have reached the frontier 
of the country to be invaded, leads to the inference that 
it did not exceed three months. Charlemagne's army 
was made up of horsemen, not infantry, as in the preced- 
ing epoch; but the organisation of these armies is little 
known. If a frontier were invaded, a general levying of 
troops was made in the neighbouring countries: this was 
the landwehr, already so-called in the ninth century. 

17. Finance. Disappearance of Public Contribntions. 
— Justice and the army were therefore public institutions: 
it was in the name of the state and of the chief of the 
state alone that judgments were pronounced and war was 
declared. It was otherwise with the finances. Public 
contributions had almost entirely disappeared in the 
eighth century; beyond the annual gifts, rents, or quit- 
rents, which continued to be paid for some time on cer- 
tain lands, and the judicial fines and geace money, the 



202 EMPIRE OF THE FRANKS. 

king had only his personal revenues at his disposal. It is 
true that they were large; to the Austrasian property of 
the Pippins were added many territories, either coniis- 
cated or conquered from the numerous enemies of three- 
quarters of a century. Charlemagne was doubtless the 
greatest landed proprietor of the Empire. He supervised 
the administration of these lands as a sovereign who 
knows that his power rests partly on his riches. The 
capitulary " De Villis ^^ and the description of his do- 
mains which he had drawn up in 812 bear interesting tes- 
timony on this point. The revenues in money and in 
kind drawn from the exploitation of his farms, woods, 
mills, mines, and salt marshes, etc., were increased by 
booty, tribute paid by subject princes, presents from sui)- 
jects of the Empire or foreign potentates. Moreover, in 
his changes of residence the king required his subjects to 
contribute to the support of his person and household. 
What was in the Merovingian period merely voluntary 
homage, became a right which Charlemagne exacted. 

18. Extraordinary Expenses: Public Works; Public 
Charities. — There were no public expenses, just as there 
were no public contributions. The maintenance of roads, 
dikes, sluices, bridges, fords, and coastguards was at 
the expense of the population, not of the state. In cer- 
tain cases, however, it was necessary to contribute to 
works whose utility was apparent: as for the construction 
of strategic bridges, and the palace and chapel of Aix-la- 
Chapelle. Charles attempted to revive commerce, by 
affording protection to merchants and Jews, establishing 
new markets, and supervising weights and measures, 
which he wished to render uniform. He organised a pub- 
lic fund for the benefit of the poor, by imposing a tax on 
bishops, abbots, and counts. All these measures were 
evidently taken in the interests of the state; but they did 



LITERARY REVIVAL. 203 

not constitute^ as in the present time^ so many public 
offices kept up by regular funds. Here, as elsewhere, 
everything depended on the j^ersonal foresight of the 
emperor. His efforts bore fruit: during his reign his 
states e^ijoyed a degree of prosperity unknown for more 
than a century. 

19. Monetary System. Disuse of Gold Coin. — Pippin 
modified considerably the monetary system: the mintage 
of gold coins was discontinued, and on the demand of the 
council of Eheims (813) the circulation of the gold solidi 
of imperial Eome was forbidden; the denarius and half- 
denarius in silver w^ere the current money. Twelve de- 
narii equalled a solidus, and twenty solidi were worth a 
pound of 7680 of our grains. The character of the coin- 
age, which had deteriorated under the later Merovingians, 
was improved, especially after the conquest of Lombardy. 
The king kept the exclusive right of coining money in his 
mints, of which there was a restricted number. 

20. Literary Revival. The Palace School. Alcuin. — 
Conqueror, legislator, benefactor of his people, Charles 
was also the protector of arts, letters, and instruction. 
He drew around him the most distinguished writers of 
his time. Northumbria sent him Alcuin. A pupil of the 
episcopal school of York, he was imbued with the spirit of 
classic literature; Vergil was his delight. Sent on a mis- 
sion to the continent, he met Charlemagne in Italy, and 
consented to follow him to cou<rt (782); here he was made 
director of the school which Charles had established iii 
his own palace. Through his writings and correspond- 
ence he exerted marked influence on the theological, liter- 
ary, and scientific doctrines of his time. Later he with- 
drew to the rich abbey in Tours, and there formed a 
school on the model of the one at York. The beautiful 
manuscripts which were copied there in the ninth cen- 



204 EMPIRE OF TEE FRANKS. 

tury, and that are still in existence, bear witness to the 
work done in this school. He died in 804^ sowing over 
France, as he expresses it, " the seeds of knowledge in the 
evening of his life, as he had scattered them through 
Britain in the flower of his age." 

21. Charlemagne's Zeal for Enlightenment. — Italy con- 
tributed also a large share towards the education of 
Charlemagne and his people. He found among the Lom- 
bards, at Benevento, Milan, and Pavia, schools of deep 
learning and a civilised nobility. He brought from 
Eome professors of grammar and arithmetic, architects 
and sculptors. The idea of a Christian empire, which 
Charlemagne had drawn from the " City of God " by 
Saint Augustine, and whose realisation he had dreamed of 
before he even thought of imperial restoration, imposed 
on him the duty of doing everything to civilise his sub- 
jects and lift them towards the kingdom of God. His 
capitularies are an eloquent testimony of the importance 
he attached to instruction. He considered it of prime 
importance that the priests should be learned; he sent 
forth this edict: " Each father of a family must send his 
son to school, and there leave him until he shall be well 
informed." The children of the nobles were sent to the 
palace school, as well as those of the poor, who, in the 
preceding age, were alone destined for study and the 
Church. Their progress was supervised by him, and the 
most ardent students were rewarded with bishoprics and 
abbeys. Eager for all knowledge, especially that con- 
cerning theology, grammar, and astronomy, he invited 
and kept with him the finest minds of his time. Beside 
the Anglo-Saxon Alcuin stands the deacon Paul, who de- 
scended from a noble Lombard family living in Friuli; 
Theodulf, of Gothic origin, was bishop of Orleans; there 
were Paulin of Aquileia; Peter of Pisa; Einhard, or Egin- 



TEE ARTS. 205 

hard, Charlemagne's biographer, also of illustrious birth; 
Angilbert, of Frankish race like Eginhard, married one 
of Charlemagne's daughters, Bertha, and was the father 
of the celebrated historian Nithard. 

22. The Palace Academy. — These favoured sages who 
were employed in council or administrative affairs formed 
themselves into an academy, after the Anglo-Saxon way, 
and assumed names borrowed from classic antiquity and 
the Bible. Alcuin was Horatius Flaccus; Angilbert, less 
modest, took the name of Homer; Charlemagne, David, 
the royal singer and warrior of the ancient alliance. In 
this spirit, the seneschal of the court was called Menalcas, 
and his chamberlain, Tircis. 

23. Literary Pedantry and the Worship of the Beautiful. 
— These titles smack of the pedant; and, in fact, Carolin- 
gian literature is steeped in pedantry. The students of 
the court made too great a parade of their learning, 
freshly gathered from classic books. Grouped around the 
new Augustus, the poets imitated Yergil and Ovid; the 
prose writers, with less taste, Suetonius, Cornelius Nepos, 
Aurelius Victor. Eginhard's life of Charlemagne is a 
tissue of phrases borrowed from Latin historians. They 
had too much acquired science and not enough natural 
genius; yet in a barbarous age they professed a worship 
for the beautiful. They attempted, and not unsuccess- 
fully, to be worthy of their models. Their pupils, who 
continued their traditions, sought refuge in cloisters 
when there was no longer place for them at the Carolin- 
gian court. The torch which they had lighted was not 
to be extinguished. 

24. The Arts. — While the bulk of these writers' works 
has been kept, but little is known to-day of the con- 
temporary sculpture and architectural works. Theo- 
doric's palace at Ravenna was partly demolished, with the 



206 EMPIRE OF THE FRANKS. 

Pope's consent, and its columns and precious marbles 
were taken at great expense to Aix-la-Chapelle, there to 
be used in building the palace and church. The latter, 
erected on the plan of San Vitale at Eavenna, is partly 
standing, and offers a fine example of Byzantine style. 
The poet Ermoldus Nigellus has left a description of the 
frescoes which covered the walls at Ingelheim, now a 
shapeless ruin. The plan of the abbey of Saint Gall 
gives one an exact idea of those monastic establishments 
which held so important a place in the social and intel- 
lectual world of the Middle Ages. Judging from the 
small number of Carolingian monuments which are ex- 
tant, art at that period was not more original than litera- 
ture; but the efforts which it cost to produce these monu- 
naents bore fruit some two or three centuries later. 
Sacred music was reformed in imitation of the Italian 
style, and the old barbaric chants, more howling than 
singing, were no longer heard in the churches. 

25. Collection of Barbarian Poems Made by Charle- 
magne. Beginning of Modern Literature. — Although an 
admirer of classic literature, Charlemagne did not dis- 
dain his maternal tongue, nor the national songs that his 
Germanic subjects handed down from generation to gen- 
eration. He commanded them to be collected and taken 
down in writing; he had a grammar of the Frankish lan- 
guage compiled; unfortunately these collections have been 
lost. It shows, however, that there was an appreciation of 
the possibility of writing in a tongue other than the Latin. 
The Latin language was breaking up, and new idioms 
were beginning to blossom on the old Eoman trunk. 

26. Royal Authority of the Early Carolingians. Its 
Degree and Limits. — It is now possible to appreciate the 
degree and nature of the powers exerted by the early 
Carolingians. Apparently they were all-powerful; in 



AUTHORITY OF THE EARLY CAR0LINQIAN8. 207 

reality the limits to their authority were narrow and 
many. They were not the sole law-makers, since the 
people shared in the privilege. They had no standing 
army, and soldiers were as attached to their seignors as 
to their sovereign. They appointed the state officials, yet 
the most important among them were great proprietors 
whom they needed to conciliate as well as to supervise. 
Their financial resources were limited and uncertain. 
The title of emperor had conferred greater prestige, but no 
new powers on Charlemagne. In the same way, the oath 
required of subjects of the empire in 802 imposed various 
moral obligations, without modifying their constitutional 
attitude towards the sovereign; in principle, they were to 
practise the Christian religion, which was the foundation 
of imperial unity. Meanwhile the state idea, so foreign 
to the conception of Germanic royalty, reappeared, espe- 
cially in the works of ecclesiastical writers, who were still 
imbued with the doctrines of antiquity. The capitu- 
laries speak of the "safety of the fatherland," " the 
honour of the realm," " the profit of the people." Not- 
withstanding this phraseology, nothing in the nature 
of things had been changed; the Carolingian empire re- 
mained a Frankish empire. Nothing had been borrowed 
from the institutions of the Roman Caesars except the 
name. Pippin bore the title of Vir inluster; Charle- 
magne that of Imperator augustus. Superlative expres- 
sions were applied to him which recall those of the fourth 
century: excellentissimus, serenissimus i also piissimus^ 
which strikes the keynote of the Holy Roman Empire. 
Something of antique pomp reappeared at the barbarian 
court, yet Charlemagne adapted himself to it with diffi- 
culty. Twice only did he wear the imperial costume, with 
the long tunic, the chlamys, and the sandals, the sceptre, 
and the crown; but he kept the sword. 



208 EMPIRE OF THE FRANKS. 

27. Importance of Charlemagne's Work. — The early 
Carolingians accomplished a great and beneficent work. 
One must not consider alone the blood that was shed, 
the peoples torn from their homes, the religion of Christ 
forcibly imposed upon pagans. The methods which 
Charlemagne, his father, and grandfather employed were 
those of an age of violence. Yet these princes undertook 
to bring government out of anarchy, and society out of 
barbarism. They partly succeeded, and in working for 
the good of humanity they contributed to their own 
glory. 

28. Why Their Work was Transient. The Advantages 
of Vassalage. — Yet their work survived them but a short 
time. There were three principal reasons for this: (1) 
The stability of the Carolingian empire depended, in a 
great measure, on the spirit of its founders; it crumbled 
away under Charlemagne's incompetent successors. (2) 
A monarchical and military government which is not. 
supported by a standing army and assured revenues is 
bound to go to pieces. Every measure taken by the 
Carolingians to systematise the administration and ensure 
obedience from their subjects reacted against themselves 
and accelerated the formation of feudal society. The 
great proprietors, to whom were confided frontier duties, 
and to whom were accorded benefices, considered them- 
selves as vassals rather than government officials; their 
duties were made hereditary, and they kept, as vassals, 
the regal powers that had been bestowed on them as 
agents of the king. The bishops, whom Charles had asso- 
ciated in the administration, gradually identified them- 
selves with the feudal aristocracy, and used, for their 
personal advantage or that of the Church, the privileges 
granted them by the kings. (3) Vassalage and the system 
of benefices were prime factors in this transformation of 



WBY THEIR WORE WAS TRANSIENT. 209 

society. The lands which the Carolingians gave their 
(warriors out of the Church domains as a recompense, or 
'* benefice/' were of the same character as the grants, 
precaria, made by the Church. In principle, the conces- 
sions were limited to the lives of the donor and recipient. 
In order to be perpetual and hereditary they must be re- 
newed at the death of one of the parties; they were 
revocable should the beneficiary fail to perform the requi- 
site services. Moreover, the recipients bound themselves 
to the king by an especial oath of " commendation," 
homage, and fidelity, which made them his vassals. This 
system of territorial concessions, that seemed to assure to 
royalty faithful adherents, was imitated by the lay and 
ecclesiastical proprietors, who had vassals also on whom 
they conferred benefices. Eoyalty looked favourably 
upon this hierarchical organisation, that apparently united 
more closely the various members of the social body, at a 
time when it was difficult to exact obedience, in the name 
of the state, from the officials, and the confused mass of 
subjects in the vast Carolingian empire. It seemed to be 
a means of regulating the military organisation. Under 
Charlemagne the army was commanded by counts and 
royal vassals, who had under them, first, the freemen of 
their counties, many of them their own vassals; and, 
second, the inhabitants of their domains. Gradually all 
freemen found it to their advantage to commend them- 
selves to a seignior, a count, or rich lay or ecclesiastical 
proprietor, who granted them protection and benefices, 
to which were attached obligations and duties, but also 
privileges and immunities. The classification in the army 
and Carolingian administration became identical with 
that of the feudal system. All political and administra- 
tive relations disappeared in the one relationship of vassal 
and lord. This was fatal to a societv imbued with the 



210 EMPIRE OF THE FRANKS. 

Germanic spirit, that had never -understood the judicial 
and abstract ideas of state, law, and administration on 
wliich rested the Eoman world, and that could only appre- 
ciate the personal relationship of man to man. Merovin- 
gian society was based on the oath of allegiance taken by 
the subject to his sovereign. To the tie of obedience be- 
tween subject and king were added the oaths wliich 
created personal obligations between the sovereign and 
his vassals. The former duties were the first forgotten, 
and when the Carolingian realm was divided into several 
kingdoms and torn by invasions and civil wars, it was on 
the basis of vassalage, intimately connected with the con- 
cessions of benefices or fiefs, that the new order, the 
feudal world, grew up. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE CAEOLINGIAN^ DECADENCE, 814-888.* 

1. Louis the Pious. His Character. — One of Charle- 
magne's three sons survived him; he was the youngest 
and least capable, Louis, called the Mild, or Pious. f He 
was born in 778 at Casseuil near Dropt, and was thirty- 
six years old on his accession to the throne. He was of 
medium size, though robust; early accustomed to physi- 

* Sources — "Annales royales"or of "Saint-Berlin." edited by 
Abbe Debaisnes (" Societe de I'bistoire de France"). The division 
which covers the years 836-861 was written by Prudence, bishop of 
Troyes from 846; the last part (861-882) was written or directly 
inspired by Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, (" Mon. Germ, hist.," 
V. i.) ''Annales de Saint- Vaast" (with the " Annales de Saint- 
Bertin)." " Chronicle of the Monk Reginon." " Life of Louis the 
Pious," by Thegan, Prankish noble, chorev^que of Treves, who 
'knew and admired the emperor. Another biography of the same, 
by an anonymous author called the "Astronomer"; these two 
biographies are in volume vi. of "Bouquet," with the poem by 
Ermoldus Nigellus in praise of Louis the Pious (the texts are also in 
" Mon. Germ. hist."). The four books on the revolts of the sons of 
Louis the Pious against their father, by Nithard, son of Angilbert 
and Bertha, daughter of Charlemagne (" Bouquet," volume vii., and 
in "Mon. Germ. hist."). Nithard is the first lay writer of the 
Middle Ages. The historic poems of this period have been collected 
by Ern. Dllmmler under the title " Poetoe latini medii aevi " (" Mon. 
Germ hist.," 1881-1884). 

Literature. — Simson, and Diimmler in "Jahrbilcher der 
deutschen Geschichte." 

f He was known to contemporaries as Ludovicus Pius, a laudatory 
title. The term Debonnaire was given him by posterity, a term 
implying blame because of his weak nature. 

211 



212 THE CAROLINGIAN DECADENCE, 814-888. 

cal exercises, he was a good horseman and skilful with the 
bow and lance. His mind had been carefully trained; he 
was a thorough Latin scholar and understood Greek per- 
fectly. As a child he had been trained to public affairs, 
and at the age of three years he was crowned king of Aqui- 
taine; he had fought, though unsuccessfully, the Gascons 
and Arabs, and had concerned himself with the happiness 
of his people and the reform of the Church. Yet this 
virile education had produced neither a man nor a ruler. 
He was vacillating and of a timid nature; a pupil of 
Saint Benedict of Aniane, he was more monk than war- 
rior. The military empire of Charlemagne fell away 
from the hands of a crowned priest. 

2. Eeaction Against the Autocratic Oovernment of 
Charlemagne. — In 813 Louis the Pious had been associ- 
ated in the government of the empire; his succession was 
uncontested. His first care was to purify the court by 
sending off the persons of evil life whom Charlemagne's 
dissipated old age had tolerated and encouraged. He did 
more; he disciplined even the ministers of the emperor. 
Wala, grandson of Charles Martel, was forced to become 
a monk; his brother Adalhard, abbot of Corbie, was exiled 
to Noirmoutiers. One of the leading missi of Charle- 
magne, Leidrade, archbishop of Lyon, was shut up in a 
monastery at Soissons; Benedict of Aniane succeeded him 
in the confidence of the emperor. Exiles were recalled; 
missi were sent throughout the empire; an attempt was 
made to win the nobles, by conferring perpetual grants of 
domains of which they had usufructs; and the Church, by 
extending its privileges. Louis the Pious consented even 
to receive from the hands of the new Pope, Stephen IV., 
. the imperial crown with which he had crowned himself 
when associated with the empire. He thus repudiated 
the very principles of Charlemagne's government. 



BERNARD'S REVOLT AND DEATH, 818. 213 

3. Division of the Empire in 817. — He went farther on 
his way of concession and weakness. His wife, Ermen- 
gard, had borne him three sons: Lothaire, Pippin, and 
Louis. The oldest, Lothaire, had been living in Bavaria 
since 814, and Pippin in Aquitaine, both having the title 
of king. It was desired to give Lonis his share. Some 
proposed that, according to the old Germanic law, each 
son should have his portion, unalienable and independent; 
others wished to maintain imperial unity. The latter 
carried the day. It was decided that Aquitaine and Gas- 
cony should be ceded to Pippin, that Louis should have 
Bavaria, with the tributary Slavic peoples, and that Lo- 
thaire should be immediately associated with his father. 
His two brothers were to be entirely subject to him; they 
must consult with him each year on the affairs of the em- 
pire; they might not marry nor make treaties without his 
consent. Thus, said this " charter of division," there 
shall be " one sole empire, and not three." 

4. Bernard's Revolt and Death, 818. Public Penance 
of the Emperor, 822. — But a strong hand was needed to 
maintain unity in this division. A natural son of Pippin 
of Italy, Bernard, took up arms to defend his paternal 
inheritance, of which he was being despoiled; abandoned 
by his own followers, he was compelled to trust to the 
emperor, his uncle. Although protected by a safe-con- 
duct, he was brought before the court of the Franks, con- 
voked at Aix, and condemned to death, with his lay 
accomplices. The emperor spared his life, but com- 
manded his eyes to be put out, according to Byzantine 
custom. The operation was performed so brutally that 
the young prince died, it is said, three days later. Louis 
the Pious experienced such remorse for the deed that he 
"wished to do public penance for his sins. In the church 
of Attigny, in the presence of the nobles and people, he 



214 THE GAROLmGIAN DECADENCE, 814-888. 

confessed that " in his life, in his faith, and his duties he 
had been too often negligent and criminal." This axjt 
of humility was a great mistake. What respect indeed 
could the poorly disciplined subjects of the empire 
feel for a ruler who made such a confession of incom- 
petency? 

5. Abdication of Louis the Pious, 833. — His personal 
ignominy, accentuated by family quarrels, brought final 
discredit on the empire. After the death of his first wife 
Louis the Pious wished to retire into a monastery; finally 
he submitted to remain on the throne, and to remarry. 
The new queen, Judith, was beautiful, charming, and am- 
bitious; she had no trouble in controlling her weak hus- 
band. She wished to secure for her son, Charles the 
Bald, a share in the paternal inheritance; and on the 
haughty refusal of the nobles and clergy, who intended to 
keep intact the charter of 817, she made a coup d'etat: an 
imperial edict issued without the concurrence of the 
nobles in assembly granted Alsace, Alemannia, and Rhse- 
tia to the young child. This was the signal for a fruit- 
less civil war that lasted four years. Finally in 833 
Lothaire crossed the Alps with an army; Gregory IV. 
accompanied him; he joined his two brothers in the plain 
of Logelbach, between Colmar and Basel. The emperor 
took the field against them, then consented to negotiate. 
The Pope pretended to act as mediator, but in reality won 
over for the rebellious sons the principal lieutenants of 
the father, and when the latter decided to fight he found 
himself alone; thereupon he went to Lothaire's tent, ob- 
tained from him the assurance that his wife and son 
Charles should be left unharmed, and yielded all other 
points. Lothaire was sole emperor, Charles losing his in- 
heritance, and Pippin's and Louis's shares being increased. 
Louis the Pious agreed to sign his own abdication, and to 



ORIGIN OF MODERN NATIONS. 215 

read publicly, standing bareheaded in the church of Saint 
Medard at Soissons, a general confession of eight articles, 
'dictated by the partisan bishops of Lothaire, then he laid 
aside the military belt and was clothed in the garb of a 
penitent! 

6. Louis's End, 840. Deplorable Consequences of his 
Reign. — Lothaire's triumph was short-lived. The fol- 
lowing year he was obliged to liberate his father and 
return to Italy. Louis the Pious was reinstated in the 
basilica of Saint Denis, and crowned for the third time; 
but he was the mere shadow of an emperor. His last 
years were passed in sharing his estates among his sons, 
or in fighting them. He died on an island" in the Rhine 
opposite Ingelheim, as he was about to march against 
Louis the German, who had revolted. His reign was 
deplorable. Although the material integrity of his empire 
had not been seriously injured by the Norman invasions 
or the revolts of the Gascons and Britons, moral unity 
was compromised by the sovereign's weakness, his chil- 
dren's ambition, and the greed of the aristocracy. 

7. Origin of Modern Nations. — One of the first conse- 
quences of the speedy disintegration of the Carolingian 
empire was the beginning of modern nations. For ex- 
ample, what could have been the state of mind of a 
Bavarian forced to take an oath of fealty to his king, 
Louis, and another to each one of the two emperors. 
How could he serve at once three masters who were al- 
ways quarrelling? It was inevitable that a subject should 
have less and less respect for the supreme power and 
should adhere to the king who would give him a share of 
the booty. The Carolingian empire did not fall because 
several hostile nations existed within its realm, but these 
nations took form from the day when the moral unity of 
the empire was shaken. 



216 THE CAROLINGIAN DECADENCE, 814-883. 

8. The Battle of Fontenoy, 840. — This was apparent 
immediately after the death of Louis the Pious. Lo- 
thaire assumed the imperial crown and attempted to force 
his brothers to acknowledge his authority. However 
legal his claim might have been, it brought on a new civil 
war. Louis the German took up arms, allied himself with 
young Charles, who, by the treaty of Worms (839), had 
acquired possessions in France as far as the Meuse and 
the Ehone, Lothaire joined Pippin II., whom Louis the 
Pious had robbed of the rich inheritance of his father, 
king of Aquitaine. On June 25, 841, the two armies met 
near Fontenoy-en-Puisaye, not far from Auxerre. After 
a short, though fierce and bloody, fight, Lothaire was 
beaten, and fled, leaving much booty to the conquerors. 
Notwithstanding his defeat, he won the Saxons over to 
his cause, by promising to restore to them the liberties 
they enjoyed in the time of pagan independence; he also 
made an alliance with the Danes, and soon reappeared to 
threaten Aix-la-Chapelle. Charles hurried to join Louis 
on the borders of the Ehine. 

9. The Oath of Strasburg, 842.— February 15, 842, tii 
two brothers " met in the city formerly known as Argen- 
toratum, now Strasburg, and there swore an oath of 
alliance and brotherhood, Louis in the Eoman tongue, 
Charles in the Teutonic." The warriors of the two 
armies bound themselves by a like vow. Mthard has pre- 
served the text of the words interchanged during this 
solemn event.* He was the historian of these wars, and 

* Louis's Oath: **Pro Deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro 
commun salvament, dist di en avant, in quant Deus savir et podir 
me dunat, si salvarai eo cist meon fradre Karlo, et in adiudha et in 
cadhuna cosa, sicum om per dreit son fradra salvar dist, in o quid il 
mi altresi fazet, etc." (For the love of God, and for the common 
safety of ourselves and the Christian people, from this day forward. 



IMPERIAL UNITY PROCLAIMED. 21 "7 

an ardent partisan of Charles. The document shows 
that the separation of the languages was already an ac- 
complished fact; that of the nations was soon to follow. 

10. Treaty of Verdun, 843, — Thereupon Charles and 
Louis, lavishing on each other marks of confiding friend- 
ship, advanced against Lothaire, who beat a retreat to- 
wards Lyons, where he gathered together an army of 
Italians and Aquitanians. The forces were about equally 
balanced; but the kings wearied of a fruitless war, and 
the nobles longed for peace in order to enjoy their bene- 
fices. So they began negotiations, and after long con- 
ferences the kings agreed to share the empire equally 
among themselves. A definite agreement was concluded 
at Verdun (August, 843). To Bavaria, which he had 
governed for sixteen years, Louis the German added the 
German countries on the right bank of the Khine, with 
the dioceses of Mainz, Worms, and Speyer on the left 
bank. Charles the Bald had the countries which were 
distinctively French, as far as the Scheldt, Meuse, Saone, 
and Rhone. Lothaire took the remainder, that is to say, 
Italy and the countries lying between Charles's and 
Louis's possessions: thus the Austrasian territories, cradle 
of the Carolingian race, with the two capitals, Aix-la- 
Chapelle and Rome, fell to his share. Tliis concession 
was an act of homage rendered to the imperial dignity. 

11. Imperial Unity Proclaimed, Yet Unrealised. — There 
was an attempt made to keep up the illusion of imperial 
unity. At Thionville in 844, at Mersen in 847 and 852, 

with all that God has given me of knowledge and power, I will 
protect this my brother Charles with help and with each thing, as 
one should by right protect his brother, on condition that he do the 
same for me.) Charles's Oath: " In Godes minna. . . " etc. The 
two texts, Romanic and Teutonic, are the oldest documents, bearing 
a date, in the French and German languages. 



218 THE CAROLINQIAN DECADENCE, 814-888. 

ihe three brothers iinited themselves in bonds of 
" brotherhood and charit}^ "; they reaffirmed their claims 
to their own possessions, and promised mutual help 
against their enemies. It was futile to declare that the 
empire had been " not divided, merely apportioned/^ for 
none the less three great kingdoms had been created: 
Prance, Germany, and Italy, rival kingdoms, born of homi- 
cidal struggles, and doomed to be eternally separated by 
warring interests. The antagonism of nationalities was a 
consequence of the treaty of Verdun; not, as has been 
said, the treaty a consequence of the antagonism of 
nationalities. By establishing between countries purely 
German and countries purely French an intermediate 
state, made up of territories in which the two languages 
and peoples were mixed, France and Germany were forci- 
bly awakened to a consciousness of themselves. 

The treaty had just destroyed the most fragile part of 
Charlemagne^3 work — territorial unity: the very spirit of 
his government was thereupon to disappear. Secular 
and ecclesiastical authority had supported him in his 
reign. This double prop was taken from his unworthy 
successors whilst the various Carolingian kingdoms were 
assailed by the Slavs and Hungarians on the east, the Sar- 
acens on the south, and the Norsemen on every point. 

12. Lothaire Commands Respect for Imperial Authority, 
840-855. — In spite of his mistakes Lothaire was still a 
representative of the imperial idea. During his father's 
reign he had reestablished intercourse with the head of 
the Church on the same terms as Charlemagne. The 
emperor's share in a pontifical election was clearly de- 
fined in 824, in the oath imposed upon the Eoman people: 
*^ I swear to prevent with all my strength and intelligence 
any pontifical election, in this Roman city, made other- 
wise than according to the canons, or the consecration of 



REPRESENTATIVES OF TEE IMPERIAL IDEA. 21^ 

the elected pontiff before he has taken, in the presence of 
the people and the imperial envoy, an oath like that made 
and sworn to, of his own free will, by Pope Eugene." 
At the time of the election of Sergius II. Lothaire 
proved that these were not vain words. 

13. The Last Representatives of the Imperial Idea: 
Louis n. and Hincmar, 855-875. — The emperor was still 
respected in his person under Lothaire; Louis IL, wha 
succeeded him in 855, was less fortunate. Italy was thiti 
Louis's sole resource, since by partition Lothaire, his 
second brother, had acquired Friesland and the Austra- 
sian countries which were called Lorraine, the realm of 
Lothaire, and his youngest, Charles, had been given 
Provence. He was unable to exact from his brothers or 
uncles the peace and concord so many times sworn. He 
did nothing to defend Charles the Bald, driven for a time 
from his own realm by Louis the German (859). Nor did 
he interfere to protect his brother, Charles of Provence, 
attacked in his turn by Charles the Bald. When his 
nephews, Lothaire's sons, were despoiled by Charles -the 
Bald and Louis the German (878) he sought the interven- 
tion of the Pope; but the legates of Hadrian IL were re- 
ceived coldly at Saint Denis and Aix. The archbishop of 
Rheims, Hincmar, pertinently recalled to them the fact 
that Pippin had founded the temporal power of the 
Papacy, and that it was not the province of a mere bishop 
"to sow discord throughout an empire under pretext of 
disposing of crowns." The Pope sent no reply, and the 
emperor, wholly occupied in fighting the Saracens in the 
south of Italy, let the matter drop. Yet he had a clear 
idea of the sacred character of the empire. In 871 he cap- 
tured the Greek town of Bari from the Saracens. There- 
upon the emperor of the East sent him a contemptuous 
letter, in which he refused him the title of Basileus, for- 



220 THE CAROLINOIAN DECADENCE, 814-888. 

merly accorded to Charlemagne, and gave him to under- 
stand that the power of the Western emperors was 
usurped, and consequently illegal. " This empire/' Louis 
retorted, " was received from our ancestor, not by usurpa- 
tion, but by the will of God, by judgment of the Church, 
and its sovereign pontiff, by the laying-on of hands, and 
holy anointing. If you condemn the act of the pontiff, 
then you dare to blame also Samuel, who, rejecting Saul, 
whom he first consecrated, did not hesitate to anoint 
David as king." 

14. Charles the Bald, Emperor, 875. Imperial Au- 
thority Ruined. — Louis 11. died in 875. Charles the 
Bald, who controlled the passes in the Alps through his 
conquest of Provence, made all speed to Italy. He 
reached Rome, called thither by the new Pope, John 
yilL, and was crowned December 25, just seventy-five 
years after Charlemagne. He paid dearly for his crown. 
His predecessors had received it either from their fathers 
or from an assembly held away from Rome; Charles, on 
the contrary, took it from the Pope and the Romans. 
In fact, the Pope proclaimed that he had created the em- 
peror. So this dignity, of which Louis spoke in terms so 
emphatic, was degraded; the constitutions of Charlemagne 
and Lothaire became a dead letter. 

15. Growing Power of the Church in the Ninth Cen- 
tury. Hincmar. — All the power and prestige which were 
lost by the emperor passed over to the Church. More- 
over, since the beginning of the century conceptions of 
royal and ecclesiastical power were being modified. 
Charlemagne had been looked upon as a second David, as 
a priestly king: but dating from Louis the Pious most 
political writers had gone back to Saint Augustine's theo- 
ries. In their opinion, the chief end of man in this world 
and the next was peace; w^hich was attained through 



' THE FALSE DECRETALS. 221 

charity and JMstice. Eoyalty was useful in maintaining 
order, but in no wise essential: "its authority serves to 
exact, through fear, what the priest cannot accomplish 
through persuasion." So stated Jonas, bishop of Orleans, 
and friend of Louis the Pious. Hincmar, who was a dis- 
tinguished theologian and resolute politician, spoke in 
like manner under Charles the Bald. His faithfulness ta 
Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald earned him the 
archbishopric of Eheims. He served his king courage- 
ously and successfully, less in the interests of royalty than 
the profit of the Church, and especially the see of Rheims, 
which he aspired to make the leading metropolitan see of 
Gaul. " The king," he wrote, " is a force and instrument 
in the hands of the Church, who is superior to him, since 
she guides him to his true destiny. Without this special 
force which he wields, and that entails especial duties, the 
king is a man like other men. He must respect the 
Church and the property of others; his duties are the 
same as those of all Christians." 

16. The False Decretals. — These opinions are repeated 
in the celebrated apocryphal compilation, the so-called 
" False Decretals." This book was made about 851 or 852, 
with the help of genuine documents, and of old and recent 
falsifications. The author or authors hid behind the 
imaginary name of a certain Isidorus Mercator; their pur- 
pose was to free the bishops from the yoke of the metro- 
politans, by placing them under the direct authority of 
the Pope, and to prevent secular powers from interfering 
in the constitution of ecclesiastical provinces. They were 
certainly compiled in Gaul, and undoubtedly at the insti- 
gation of Aldric, bishop of Mans, to serve in local quar- 
rels and interests, and their principal result was to in- 
crease the authority of the Holy See and justify its pre- 
tensions to universal domination. Dating from the 



222 THE CAROLINGIAN DECADENCE, 814-888. 

eleventh century the bishops used them constantly, and 
made no distinction between them and the authentic de- 
crees embodied in the letters of their predecessors. 

17. The Pontificate of Nicolas I., 858-887.— Nicolas 
I. was one of the most intelligent workmen who laboured 
for the foundation of a theocratic power exercised solely 
by the Church. The importance of his pontificate is 
shown especially in his conduct of three important affairs-: 
that concerning the schism of Photius, the archbishop 
Hincmar, and King Lothaire, brother of the emperor. 

18. Eight of Appeal to the Holy See. The Pope Su- 
perior to the Metropolitans. — Eothad, bishop of Soissons, 
was suffragan of Eheims, but, favoured by civil wars, he 
had assumed an attitude of independence in his relations 
with his archbishop, as well as with the king, and refused 
to recognise the metropolitan authority in the adminstra- 
tion of his diocese. Hincmar had him deposed by a 
synod, assembled at Senlis in 863, and imprisoned in a 
monastery. Bu-t Eothad had appealed to the supreme 
authority of the Holy See, and Nicolas I. had taken up 
the quarrel of the dispossessed bishop; he called him to 
Eome, and no one appearing as his accuser, he reinstated 
him in his dignities (865). " It is from the power and 
sanction of the Holy See that the synods and councils 
draw their force and stability," he wrote on this subject. 
Hincmar was forced to yield. Nicolas had thus estab- 
lished the right of appeal to the Holy See and the su- 
premacy of his judg-ments over those of provincial synods. 

19. Lothaire's Divorce, 865. The Pope Supreme Judge. 
— The other affair was longer and more delicate. Lo- 
thaire, a brother of the emperor Louis II., having lived 
with a young woman of noble birth, Waldrade, as his 
wife, married Theutberge, sister of Hubert, abbot of 
Saint-Maurice-en-Yalais (855); then, tiring of his legal 



DEPOSITION' OF CHARLES THE FAT, 887. 223 

wife, he returned to Waldrade, and was henceforth most 
anxious to obtain a dissolution of the hated marriage. 
His brothers and several prelates were enlisted in his 
favour, and a synod, convoked at Aix-la-Chapelle, pro- 
nounced Theutberge in the wrong, and condemned her to 
perpetual imprisonment. The judgment was sharply at- 
tacked by Charles the Bald for political reasons (Theut- 
berge being childless, he coveted Lothaire's kingdom), 
and by Ilincmar for moral and theological reasons. 
Nevertheless Lothaire married Waldrade, by whom he al- 
ready had three children (862). Nicolas I. then inter- 
vened. He quashed the judgment against Theutberge, 
deposed the prelates most closely implicated, excommuni- 
cated Waldrade, and refused to receive Lothaire at Rome 
as long as he was recalcitrant. He proclaimed that kings 
are not worthy of the crown unless they can govern them- 
selves, " otherwise they should be looked upon as tyrants, 
not kings; and rather than submit to them, we should re- 
sist and rebel against them." Lothaire, menaced by his 
uncles, who were already preparing to seize his states, at 
last humiliated himself before the Pope's legate, and 
granted Theutberge her position of legitimate wife. 

20. Increasing Strength of the Papacy. — Nicolas I. 
died in 867, after having strengthened, during his short 
and busy reign, the authority of the Holy See. He had 
established the supremacy of the bishop of Rome over all 
bishops, weakened the authority of the principal synods 
and metropolitans, judged, in final appeal to his tribunal, 
the greatest ecclesiastical or secular suits, and also shaken 
royal authority to its base. 

21. Deposition of Charles the Fat, 887. Triumph of 
the Aristocracy. — Little by little the Papal power was 
thus built up on the ruins of the empire. After the death 
of Charles the Bald (877) and Louis the Stammerer (879), 



224 THE CABOLINGIAN DECADENCE, 814-888. 

the imperial throne remained vacant for three years; then 
Pope John YIII. placed on it Charles the Fat, only sur- 
viving son of Louis the German (880). This incompetent 
prince acquired the inheritance of. his brothers and 
cousins, Karlmann and Louis 11. in Germany, and Louis 
III. and Karlmann in France. The unity of the empire 
was thus reconstructed, but to what purpose? He was 
incapable of defending it. After fruitless wars in ItsXy, 
Lorraine, Moravia, and Friesland, he made shameful 
treaties with the Norseman, who were beseiging Paris. 
Arnulf, an illegitimate son of his brother Karlmann, 
lieaded an insurrection, which he was afraid to combat. 
He was deposed by the diet of Tribur, near Mainz, and 
shortly after died forgotten. 

22. Dissolution of the Carolingian Empire. Royalty 
Elective. — The dissolution of the empire was final. The 
treaty of Verdun had created three kingdoms, whose 
rulers, legally and actually independent, had formed 
among themselves an ideal bond of brotherhood and 
■charity. After the deposition and death of Charles the 
Pat seven kingdoms were formed. The crown was elect- 
ive and at the disposition of the aristocracy. Arnulf was 
chosen in Germany; in France Count Eudes, or Odo, who 
liad just defended Paris most gloriously against the 
Norsemen; and in Italy, Berengar and Guido, dukes of 
Friuli and Spoleto, both great-grandsons of Charlemagne, 
liad an armed struggle for power. Three new kingdoms 
were erected in the former states of Emperor Lothaire; 
Aquitaine even thought at one time of choosing a king. 

23. Formation of the Kingdom of Provence. — Boso, 
duke of cisjurane Burgundy, whose sister had been a wife 
of Charles the Bald, and who had married the only daugh- 
ter of the Emperor Louis II., had himself proclaimed by 
the council of Mantaille in Yiennois, king of the Bur- 



FOBMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF LORRAINE. 225 

gimdians and Provencals (October 15, 879). In 887 he 
died, and it seemed at first as if his usurpation would 
bring no results; but his son Louis was acknowledged king 
by the Provengals in 890, and reigned over Aries, Lyons, 
Uzes, and Nice. Being so near Italy, he took part in the 
wars of the peninsula, defeated Berengar, and assumed 
the imperial crown (901), but was shortly after surprised 
at Verona by his enemy, who had his eyes put out. Louis 
the Blind, as he was called, lived until 928. His son was 
despoiled of the crown by Hugh of Aries, who had gov- 
erned in his name. Hugh had already had himself pro- 
claimed king of Italy, and in order to assure his power 
there he sold his kingdom of Provence to Rudolph 11. of 
Burgundy. 

24. Formation of the Kingdom of Burgundy. — The 
kingdom of Burgundy originated in the duchy of trans- 
jurane Burgundy, whose duke, Rudolph I., was elected 
king in 888 at Saint-Maurice-en- Valais. His territory 
extended from the Saone to the Aar, and included the 
cities of Chalons, Besangon, Geneva, and Lausanne; his 
son and successor added the entire basin of the Aar and 
the kingdom of Provence, acquired in 932. Burgundy 
and Provence, united, formed the great kingdom of Aries, 
which stretched along the valley of the Rhone, the Aar, 
the Doubs, with the Rhone and the Saone as western 
boundary, and the vast half circle of the Alps from the 
sea to the sources of ihe Rhine as the eastern limit. The 
kingdom was joined a century later to the German 
empire. 

25. Formation of the Kingdom of Lorraine. — The name 
Lorraine (Lothairii regnum), which designates the country 
fallen to Lothaire II., comprised the vast territory situ- 
ated to the north of the kingdom of Burgundy, betv/een 
France and Germany^ bounded by the Scheldt, the Meuse, 



226 THE CAEOLINOIAN DECADENCE, 814-888. 

the Vosges, and the Ehine. On the death of Lothaire 
II., Louis the German and Charles the Bald disputed its 
possession, and ended by sharing it according to the 
treaty of Mersen (870), which settled as the boundary be- 
tween France and Germany the lower course of the 
Meuse as far as Liege, a line passing from Liege to 
Treves, and then the upper course of the Moselle. This 
division represented pretty exactly the separation of lan- 
guages and of the territorial interests of the two coun- 
tries, but it was not adhered to. Germany encroached 
again on the land between the Meuse and the Scheldt. 
In 888 the former kingdom of Lothaire, with the addi- 
tion of Alsace, comprised an independent state, governed 
by Zwentibold, a natural son of Arnulf ; after his death it 
was annexed to Germany (900). Yet this Lorraine, 
where the Eomance tongue predominated in the entire 
western part, and where the Carolingians still had family 
ties, vassals, and friends, was to be contended for during 
the entire tenth century between the kings of France and 
Germany, and to remain thereafter the stake in a quar- 
tel which still goes on between the two countries. 

In the six kingdoms Just enumerated, a sole prince, 
Arnulf, belonged to the house of Charlemagne; others 
were indirectly attached by marriage; certain ones, like 
Eudes of France, were entirely foreign to the family. 
The great emperor lived only in popular imagination. 

26. Political Divisions of France. — The formation of 
the kingdoms of Lorraine and Aries restricted France 
proper to the limits outlined by the treaty of Verdun. 
It still included the former historic divisions: (1) Francia, 
between the Scheldt, the Meuse, and the Seine; (2) Neus- 
tria, between the Seine and the Loire, with the addition 
of parts of the counties of Tours and Blois to the south 
of the latter river, but diminished by the loss of Brittany, 



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FORMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF NAVARRE. 227 

that acquired independence under Kominoe in 843, who 
annexed also the counties of Rennes and Nantes; (3) 
Aquitaine, between the Loire and the Garonne; (4) Gas- 
cony, which annexed the Bordelais and Agenais under its 
national dukes, unfaithful tributaries; (5) Septimania, or 
Gothia, with the Spanish march; (6) Burgundy, situated 
to the west of the Saone, but which was not a part of the 
Burgundian kingdom. 

23. Formation of the Kingdom of Navarre. — Beyond the 
Pyrenees the Gascons of Navarre had asserted their in- 
dependence as early as 850; the kingdom of Navarre, 
founded in 880 by Fordun the Monk, was the seventh of 
the kingdoms built from the ruins of the Carolingian 
monarchy. Thus on every side aristocracy was triumph- 
ant; governors of provinces usurped royal power, and 
great strides were made towards the establishment of the 
feudal regime. The movement was merely accelerated by 
the Slavonic, Hungarian, Saracenic, and Norse invasions. 



228 



THE LAST CAROLINQIANS. 



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CHAPTER XV. 

THE LAST CAKOLINGIANS — INVASIONS OF THE SARACENS, 
HUNGARIANS, AND NORSEMEN — ORIGIN OF FEUDAL- 
ISM.* 

1. Slavonic Invasions. — The Slavs whom Charlemagne 
had subdued began their attacks anew. The Abroditi and 
the Wiltzi crossed the Elbe, while the Serbs and the Bo- 
hemians desolated Thuringia. In Moravia Prince Ras- 

* Sources.— The "Anoales de Saint- Vaast d'Arras,'- published 
■with those of Saint-Bertin by Abbe Dehaisnes (" Soc. de I'histoire de 
France "). Reginon, abbot of the monastery of Saint Martin at Treves 
(899-915); his chronicle is the first effort made in the Middle Ages 
to combine contemporary with universal history. Edited in ' ' Mon. 
Germ, hist.," volume i. and in "Migne," volume cxxxii. Flodoard, 
priest of Rheims and guardian of the archives of the archbishopric; 
his " Annales," 919-966, in '• Bouquet," volume vii. and viii., and in 
the "Mon, Germ Hist.," volume iii.; his history of the Church of 
Rheims from the origin to 948, in Bouquet, volume viii., and in 
" Migne," volume cxxxv. Richer, monk of Saint Remi of Rheims, 
and disciple of Gerbert: "Historiarum libri quatuor," edition Gua- 
det ("Soc. de I'hist. de France"). "Letters de Gerbert," (983- 
997) ; edition J. Havet (1889). Abbo, monk of Saint Germain des 
Pres: " De bellis Parisiacae urbis adversus Normannos libri tres," 
in Bouquet, volume viii.; "Migne," cxxxii. Dudo, dean of Saint 
Quentin (written about 1015); "Libri quatuor de moribus et actis 
primorum Normannise ducum": edition J. Lair (1865, "Soc. de 
I'Hist. de Normandie)." 

Literature. — Favre, " l^udes Comte de Paris et Roi de France "; 
Lot, " Les Derniers Carolingiens"; Bourgeois, " Le Capitulaire de 
Kiersy-sur-Oise " ; Parisot, " Le Royaume de Lorraine sous les 
Carolingiens"; Keary, "The Vikings in "Western Christendom"; 
Freeman, " The Norman Conquest," vol. i. 

oog 



230 THE LAST CAR OLIKG TANS. 

tislav, established by the Franks, made himself inde- 
pendent; he imposed a strong political and religious or- 
ganisation on his people, who had been converted by two 
Greek monks, Cyrill and Methodius, whom Nicolas I. pro- 
tected. Eastislav and his successor waged continual war- 
fare against the Germans. 

2. Hungarian Invasions. — In the valley of the Danube 
a Finnish people, related to the Huns of Attila and the 
Avars subdued by Charlemagne, the Hungarians, — Mag- 
yars, as they called themselves, — had gradually pushed 
their tents from the shores of the Ural to beyond the 
Carpathians. Led by a chief whom they elected, Arpad, 
they attacked Moravia; then skirting the German fron- 
tier, they crossed the Alps and pillaged the valley of the 
Po. On learning that the Emperor Arnulf was dead, and 
that the Germans had taken for their king his son, Louis 
the Child, they turned back and invaded Moravia, which 
they laid waste; Bavaria, that they conquered in one 
battle, where perished the Bavarian nobility almost to a 
man (July 6, 907); then Thuringia and Saxony. They 
left a desert waste wherever they passed, while the bulk 
of the nation settled down in the fertile plains of the 
Danube, where they still remain. 

3. Saracenic Invasions. — On the south the Saracens in- 
fested the Mediterranean. They made an easy conquest 
of Sicily, whose Greek governor opened the ports to them. 
In 846 they sailed up the Tiber and pillaged, at the doors 
of Eome, the time-honoured cathedral of Saint Peter's. 
Leo IV. assembled a fleet, vanquished them at Ostia and 
compelled them to withdraw. Then, carrying out an 
idea which was conceived by the Emperor Lothaire, he 
walled in the territory surrounding the newly constructed 
Saint Peter's. This new qu.arter of Eome was the Leo- 
nine City, known to-day as the Vatican. Eome was 



INVASIONS OF TEE NORSEMEN. 231 

saved, but the Saracens took Corsica and Sardinia on one 
side and Calabria on the other, while the Lombard 
princes in the south acknowledged the Byzantine power. 
Hence southern Italy was lost to the Western Empire. 
Then pushing their way north, the Saracens laid waste 
Liguria, established themselves firmly on the coast of 
Provence at Fraxinet, whence they sallied forth, like wild 
beasts from their lairs, to w^aste the country and besiege 
the towns. 

4. Invasions of the Norsemen. — The Norsemen, or men 
of the North, came from the Scandinavian countries, 
especially Norway and Denmark. Until the eighth cen- 
tury the pagans of these regions had lived in scattered, 
independent tribes, led by the nobility of the jarls. 
Charlemagne had no organised navy, and urged by love 
of adventure, they pillaged successfully along the coasts. 
Piracy became the principal industry of their poor coun- 
try. Some invaded the Slavic lands, and went as far as 
Constantinople, where the emperors took them into their 
pay. Most of them became pirates. Their vast forests 
of fir trees provided them with an inexhaustible supply of 
material to build and arm large open boats, holding from 
sixty to eighty men, which they sailed or rowed. Their 
chiefs were called Kings of the Sea, " because they never 
sought refuge under a roof, nor emptied their drinking 
horns at a fireside." They had a primitive mode of war- 
fare, like all pirates; they would coast along the shores, 
ascend the rivers, and land at the first inviting spot. 
Then they would assemble their barks in some secure 
harbour, near some island converted into a temporary 
fortress, and with this for their base would go out on 
more distant expeditions. With the horses taken from 
the peasants they had a cavalry, which bore them rapidly 
into the heart of lands most distant from rivers and coast. 



232 TEE LAST CAROLINGIANS. 

When the foray was ended they woiild load the booty in 
their boats and sail away to dispose of it quietly at home. 

5. The Norsemen in France. Robert the Strong. — To- 
wards the end of his reign Charlemagne had been forced 
to take defensive measures against the pirates. Louis the 
Pious had been partly successful in subduing them, but 
the intestinal wars among his sons emboldened them. 
The year of the battle of Fontenoy they burned the 
abbey of Jumieges, the town of Eouen, and held for a ran- 
som the monks of Saint Denis. Other bands ascended the 
Loire as far as Tours, and the Garonne to Bordeaux and 
Toulouse. Near the mouths of these three rivers they 
established permanent settlements, which became the 
starting point of later invasions. Eobert the Strong, 
count of Anjou, held them in check for some time, but 
the Normans of the Loire took their revenge at the battle 
of Brissarthe, near Anger, where this brave champion of 
national defence was killed (866). Twelve years later a 
party of Norsemen from England, refusing to accept the 
treaty which the king of Wessex, Alfred the Great, im- 
posed on one of their kings, departed to the continent and 
pillaged the valleys of the Scheldt, the Sambre, and the 
Somme. They were attacked and defeated near Saucourt 
en Vimen by the king of France, Louis III. A German 
poem written soon after by a monk of Saint Amand re- 
lates that the king "poured out to his enemies a bitter 
hydromel; woe to their life!" In spite of this they re- 
turned to besiege Paris. 

6. Siege of Paris by the Norsemen, 886. — It is related 
that they came, forty thousand strong, and that the Seine 
was covered with their boats for a distance of two miles. 
The figures are doubtless exaggerated, but it is certain 
that the Norsemen made a great effort; those along the 
Seine united with those on the Loire^ some even came 



8IEGE OF PARIS BY THE NORSEMEN, 886. 233 

from England. At that period Paris was a village within 
the narrow limits of the City on the island, with the en~ 
trances to the two bridges leading to either bank forti- 
fied. Obstructions had been placed under the arches of 
the bridges to prevent the Norman boats from ascending- 
farther the course of the Seine. Eesistance was directed 
by Bishop Gozlin, who was replaced later by Ebles, abbot 
of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, and Count Eudes, oldest son 
of Eobert the Strong. The enemy began the attack on 
the right bank; they assailed the tower that was built on 
the present site of the Chatelet, but were repulsed. A 
river flood, by carrying off a part of the small bridge^ 
separated the tower on the left bank, with its garrison of 
twelve brave men.* The Norsemen rushed upon them 
and forced them to surrender, after heroically defending 
themselves for a day; all were killed save one, who es- 
caped by swimming to the other shore. However, the- 
town held out, partly blockaded by the enemy, who 
scoured the country for food and booty. In May a body 
of imperial troops attacked the Norman camp intrenched 
at Saint Germain le Eond (to-day Auxerrois), while Eudes. 
made a determined sally; the camp was taken and the 
cattle and horses carried off, but that was all that was 
accomplished. Eudes then went to Metz to ask for fresh 
aid. The emperor, Charles the Fat, came at last, lei- 
surely, and camped on the heights of Montmartre, when 
the principal chief of the Norsemen, Siegfried, appeared 
with large reinforcements. Charles was intimidated, and 

* Their names are carved on a slab of marble which was placed, in 
1889, at the entrance to the street Petit-Font, near the quay. The 
inscription is thus worded: "At the entrance to the Little Bridge 
stood the wooden tower that the twelve heroes of Paris defended 
against the Norsemen, during the siege of 886." Then follow their 
names. 



S34 THE LAST CAROLINGIANS. 

negotiated. He bought off the pirates with seven hun- 
dred pounds of silver; this was a large sum, but he 
allowed them besides to pillage the upper Seine, during 
the winter, as far as Burgundy, a shameful concession. 
The spirited resistance of the Parisians, that had lasted 
for ten months, was all in vain! By showing that it was 
incapable of self-defence, the empire lost all prestige. 

7. Consequences of the Invasions. Self-defence a Ne- 
cessity. The Edict of Mersen, 847. — The situation was 
clearly defined: each one must look out for himself. In 
a regularly organised society individual safety is assured 
through the protection of the laws and the police. In 
ihe new state of things brought about by the invasions, 
there was no safety except in " commendation," which 
placed the poor and the weak under the protection of the 
Tidier and the stronger. The threshold of feudalism had 
been reached. An edict of Charles the Bald (Mersen, 
847), by declaring that every freeman should choose a 
seignior, legalised this system. 

8. Tendency of Public Functions to Become Hereditary. 
"Edict of ftuierzy-sur-Oise, 847. — The most powerful of 
these seigniors were those who filled high ofiices of state; 
they profited naturally by the weakness of the kings and 
the value of their own services, to make their offices per- 
petual and hereditary. When Charles the Bald set out 
for Italy, he promulgated a capitulary (877) at Quierzy- 
sur-Oise, in which he granted to the sons of counts who 
might die during the campaign the right of succession to 
the functions of their fathers, unless the king should de- 
cide otherwise. It is erroneously stated that this capitu- 
lary established the heredity of ofl&ces and benefices, but 
it proves that heredity of offices had already entered into 
the customs^ and a list of the holders of the office of count 
in the ninth century indicates that almost all the counties 



THE HOUSE OF FRANCE. 235 

were transmitted from father to son. The former ad- 
ministrative divisions were transformed into beneficiary 
possessions, and the officers were made vassals. The 
heredity of all offices became one of the characteristic 
marks of feudalism. Gradually certain seigniors, be- 
cause of favourable circumstances, courage, or talent, 
attained an eminent position in the midst of this aris- 
tocracy, which had been enriched by benefices and made 
powerful through the holding of public offices. It has- 
been seen how, by means of usurpations, the royal fam- 
ilies of Burgundy, Provence, and Italy had been founded; 
it is in the same way that the so-called House of France 
supplanted the family of Charlemagne. 

9. The House of France, or Robertian House. — The first 
member of this family was Eobert the Strong, who was^ 
doubtless of Saxon origin. Count and marquis of An- 
jou, Auxerre, and ISTevers, lay-abbot of Marmoutier and 
of Saint Martin of Tours, in 861 he was made duke of 
the country between the Seine and Loire, in command of 
the military forces assembled against the Norse pirates 
in Francia. On his death, at the battle of Brissarthe 
(866), the king gave most of his offices and benefices, not 
to his son Eudes, but to Hugh the Abbot. Eobert had 
been abbot, although a layman; Hugh was count and 
duke, although a priest. On the latter's death Eudes re- 
ceived his fathers territories, less Anjou, where the dy- 
nasty of Fulk was already reigning, the first of whom had 
doubtless been Eobert's lieutenant; Eudes was also count 
of Paris. The renown and popularity of Eobert the 
StFong, and the valour of Eudes in the siege of 886, fitted 
him for royalty. " With the consent of Arnulf, the 
peoples of Gaul elected king, by common agreement, Duke 
Eudes, who, for his beauty, size, physical strength, and 
wisdom, outshone all others." His younger brother 



236 THE LAST CAR0LINQIAN8. 

Eobert succeeded him in the duchy of France and the 
county of Paris. The territorial greatness of the Ro- 
l)ertian house was henceforth assured, and its political 
greatness was about to begin. 

From 888 to 987 the main point of interest in the his- 
tory of France is the struggle between the descendants 
of Charlemagne and Eobert the Strong. 

10. Robertians and Carolingians. Endes, 888-898, and 
Charles the Simple, 898-923. — The Carolingian dynasty, 
although fallen, still retained somewhat its prestige; the 
fact was soon made apparent to Eudes. In spite of his 
fame for gallantry, that he had so justly acquired, in spite 
of a victory over the Normans at Montfaucon en Argonne 
(886), he had to struggle with rivals, the most disturbing 
of whom was Charles, posthumous son of Louis the Stam- 
merer, whom the chroniclers named the Simple, or Stupid. 
During an absence of Eudes, engaged in Aquitaine, 
Charles assumed the crown at Rheims (January 28, 893), 
and forced his adversary, after three years' struggle, to 
promise him his rich succession. It fell to him, in fact, 
at Eudes's death, January 1, 898. Yet Charles was com- 
pelled to make concessions to the Robertians. He con- 
firmed Eudes's brother, Robert, in the possession of his 
family benefices; he gave him the abbeys of Saint Denis, 
Saint-Germain-des-Pres, and Morienval; and granted him 
the right of transmitting all his fiefs to his son Hugh. 
He speaks of him in a diploma as " our venerable mar- 
quis, the counsel and support of our realm." Robert was 
the first of his race to bear the title of duke of the 
Franks. It was transmitted to his descendants. These 
dukes exercised a kind of military command and suzer- 
ainty over all the vassals in the north of France, a power 
of such a nature as to give them, with the last Carolin- 
gians, a position analogous to that exercised by the 



TEE NOBMANS ESTABLISHED IN FRANCE. 237 

mayors of the palace of Austrasia with the last Merovin- 
gians, and to fit them for the throne of France, should it 
become vacant. It was by despoiling themselves of reve- 
nues and sovereign authority that the Carolingians at- 
tempted to hold their position. Charles gave another 
significant illustration of this policy, perhaps an inevit- 
able one, but certainly fatal to his dynasty, by creating 
the duchy of Normandy at the same time that he was be- 
stowing such honours on the son and brother of heroes 
who had fought the Norsemen. 

11. The Normans Established in France. RoUo. — The 
incursions of the Norsemen had gone on uninterruptedly. 
Several defeats like Saucourt and Montfaucon were of no 
avail. Their losses were immediately made good by 
fresh strength. The entire social fabric was deeply dis- 
turbed by their ravages. The peasants, brought to bay, 
joined the pirates, preferring to pillage rather than be 
pillaged. If credence is to be placed in a later tradition, 
the most famous of the Norman chiefs of the latter part 
of the ninth century. Hasting, who spread terror along 
the Atlantic coast and even the Mediterranean, was a 
peasant from the neighbourhood of Troyes. An impor- 
tant political revolution that took place in the ninth cen- 
tury in the Scandinavian countries tended to increase the 
number and boldness of the invaders. Two important 
kingdoms were founded; that of Denmark, by Gorm the 
Old, and the Norwegian kingdom, by Harold of the Beau- 
tiful Hair (Haarfagr). The two tyrants had no peace 
until they had conquered and driven out the nobility of 
the jarls, who were dispersed over the ocean, leaving the 
land to the peasants. Hence there was a fresh impetus 
given to Norse invasions. Towards the end of Eudes's 
reign the Norsemen along the Seine found a chief who 
was endowed in a remarkable degree with ability for war 



238 THE LAST CAROLINGIANS. 

and capacity for governing. This was Rolf, or Rollo, of 
Danish origin, like most of his companions. After hav- 
ing led for many years the rough life of a sea king, he 
settled down, in 893, at Ronen. From that point he sent 
out expeditions in all directions, which were generally 
successful; he laid waste the surrounding country of 
Paris, Tours, and Amboise. His successes won him such 
popularity with his own people, that he exercised almost 
joyal authority, and soon he seemed to command the 
JN"orsemen in France. The opposition to him was fitful 
and ineffectual, so much so that Charles the Simple, 
touched by the groans and prayers of his people, was will- 
ing to negotiate. 

12. The Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, 911.— The arcH- 
l^ishop of Rouen, Guy, or Witton, was empowered to nego- 
tiate with Rollo, who consented to become a vassal of the 
Idng of France and to receive baptism, on condition that 
he be given a large share of J^eustria. With these stipu- 
lations a treaty was concluded about 911 at Saint-Clair- 
.sur-Epte. Rollo was given the country bounded by the 
Channel on the north, the Bresle and Epte on the east, 
the Eure and Avre on the south. The state was enlarged 
somewhat later by the addition of the dioceses of Bayeux, 
Mans, and Seez, ceded in 924, and Avranches and Cou- 
tances, in 933. Thus it was that the fair duchy of Nor- 
mandy v/as constituted. Rollo paid homage to the king 
of France; on the other hand, the king, Duke Robert, the 
counts, nobles, prelates, and abbots " pledged themselves 
on their Catholic faith, to Rollo, swearing on their life 
and limbs, on the honour of the entire kingdom, that 
ilollo should hold and possess the land and transmit it to 
his heirs to the end of time." Rollo was baptised by the 
archbishop of Rouen, and took the name of his godfather^ 
■Robert. It is said that he married the daughter of 



FORMATION OF THE DUCHY OF NORMANDY. 239 

Charles the Simple, Gisela, but sht? was only three years 
old, this is therefore doubtful, unless by a political union 
with a child he wished to secure a hostage that would 
guarantee the carrying out of the treaty of Saint-Clair- 
sur-E]3te. 

13. Importance of the Formation of the Duchy of Nor- 
mandy. — However it may have been about the marriage,, 
the treaty was an act of the greatest importance: it 
created a large hereditary fief, and ratified legally, so to 
speak, the existence of feudalism. This was an advan- 
tage. In the first place, it put an end to the Norse in- 
vasions; besides this, the duchy of Normandy, under 
Rollo and his son, William Longsword, who succeeded 
him about 932, was better administered than any other 
fief in the kingdom. A Norman chronicler wrote, one 
hundred and fifty years later it is true: " Rollo guaran- 
teed safety to all those who wished to remain on his lands. 
The land was laid out by line, and divided among his fol- 
lowers, and, since it had been long deserted, new 
constructions were erected under his supervision; the- 
Norse warriors and foreigners repeopled the land. He- 
established rights and immutable laws for the benefit 
of his subjects: these he had proclaimed and confirmed 
by the will of the chiefs; the latter were compelled ta 
live peacefully together. He rebuilt the churches, remade 
and enlarged the city walls and fortifications.'* Pros- 
perity revived under this intelligent control. Gradually 
the conquerors were merged in the original population,, 
they forgot their language and pagan religion. Hence- 
forth the preponderating influence which the Robertians 
exercised over the last Carolingians was counterbalanced 
by that of the descendants of Rollo. Christian and civil- 
ised Normandy was one of the prime movers in the 
struggle between royalty and feudalism in the tenth cen- 



240 TEE LAST GAR0LINGIAN8. 

tury. The constitutional existence of a duchy, whose 
<!hief exercised royal powers, who owed merely a vague 
oath of allegiance to his king, and who held unrestricted 
sway over his soldiers and vassals, hastened the trans- 
formation of the Carolingian regime into feudalism. 

14. "Weakness of Carolingian Royalty. — Eoyalty, en- 
feebled through the abuse of the concession of benefices, 
could only maintain its existence by means of an acquisi- 
tion of territory and the support of neighbouring peoples 
or vassals. The later Carolingians attempted both means. 
They sought new domains in Lorraine, the cradle of their 
race, a poorly defined kingdom situated between Germany 
and France, and coveted by its two neighbours. When 
they were not compelled to accept the services of the 
Eobertians, the Carolingian kings sought allies in Nor- 
mandy or Germany — that is to say, from rival peoples 
and princes. They exhausted their resources in vain 
■struggles. It would be unjust to compare them, how- 
ever, to the last of the Merovingians. There were no 
faineant kings in the tenth century; they struggled with 
praiseworthy persistence, but they were overwhelmed 
by the opposing forces of the social and political 
world. 

15. Charles the Simple Dethroned (922). Rudolf.— 
At the time that Charles the Simple was building up 
the duchy of Normandy there died in Germany Arnulf's 
son, Louis the Child (August 20, 911). As his successor, 
the people beyond the Rhine chose Conrad, duke of 
Worms, and the Lorrainers, Charles the Simple. King of 
France and Lorraine, Charles's surname was unmerited. 
However, he could not prevent Eobert of France, allied 
with Rudolph, duke of Burgundy, and Herbert, count of 
Vermandois, from taking Soissons and having himself 
proclaimed king (June, 922). He led an army of Flem- 



STRUGGLES OF LOUIS IV. 241 

ings and Lorrainers against the usurper. Eobert lost his 
life in a battle near Soissons (June 15, 923), but his troops 
held the battlefield, which was carried by a bold dash of 
his young son, Hugh the White. Charles was taken pris- 
oner by Herbert of Vermandois and shut up in the castle 
of Peronne, where he died October 7, 929. The nobles 
at once elected Rudolf of Burgundy, son-in-law of Robert 
I. As for Charles's son, Louis, he was taken by his 
mother, Edwina, to his uncle, ^thelstan, king of the 
Anglo-Saxons. 

16. The Carolingian Dynasty Restored. Louis IV., 
d'Outremer. — Rudolf of Burgundy reigned not inglori- 
ously down to 936; he died childless. The nobles then 
separated into two parties: one side wished to put Hugh 
the White on the throne; the other, recall Louis d'Outre- 
mer. Hugh himself advised the latter course. His 
uncle's uncertain reign, his father's premature and 
tragic death, perhaps led him to consider their accession 
as a usurpation; perhaps he did not care for a royalty 
that was so much disputed, or thought it surer, in an 
unstable period, to yield the crown to him whom many 
thought the legitimate heir. An embassy was sent to 
^thelstan to persuade him to allow his nephew to return 
to France. Louis IV. was received respectfully, and 
crowned at Rheims by Archbishop Artaud, an adherent 
of Hugh the White. 

17. Struggles of Louis IV. with the House of France. — 
By reestablishing Charlemagne's family, Hugh intended 
to work for his own personal interest. Indeed, the young 
king — Louis was sixteen — began to reign under his 
guardianship, and Hugh had no difficulty in having re- 
newed the title of duke of the Franks that Robert I. had 
borne under Charles the Simple. Hugh was in reality 
second in the kingdom, after the king. His vassals were 



242 THE LAST CAROLINGIAXS. 

the duke of IN'ormandy^ the counts of Vermandois, Cham- 
pagne;, BloiS;, Chartres, Anjou, Sens, etc. He became, 
moreover, lord of Burgundy and, later, of Aquitaine 
even. His successful intrigues and vast power won him 
the surname of Great. Yet Louis IV. did not abdicate; 
his revenues were reduced to several domains, and he 
possessed but one city that was an actual stronghold, 
Laon; he could not accomplish a great deal, but he dared 
attempt much. He wished to take possession of Lorraine, 
but was only successful in drawing the Germans on into 
France (940). He tried to take back Normandy, after the 
death of William Longsword (943), but fell into the hands 
of his enemies; and even Hugh the Great forced him to 
give up Laon. In his distress Louis made a close alliance 
with his brother-in-law. Otto L, king of Germany. A 
council was convoked in the basilica of Saint Remy at 
Ingelheim (June, 948), presided over by the Pope's 
legate, and held in the presence of Otto. There, in the 
presence of forty-four bishops, mostly Germans, the 
unfortunate Louis enumerated his grievances against 
the duke of France, told how he had been victimised 
by spoliations and had lost Laon through trickery. 
" It was the only city in which I could shut myself 
up, the only one in which I could take shelter with 
my wife and children. What was to be done? I pre- 
ferred life to the possession of the city; I yielded it 
and gained my freedom. Xow shorn of all my property^ 
I beg the counsel of all. If the duke dares to deny what 
I say, I defy him to single combat." The assembly 
listened to his prayers, and summoned Hugh to submit to 
him, under penalty of anathema. The duke reluctantly 
yielded; in a conference held on the banks of the Marne 
"he became the king's man by hand and by oath; he 
evacuated the citadel of Laon, and pledged himself 



LOTHAIRE'S REION AND DEATH. 243 

to perfect fidelity in the future. Henceforth their 
friendship was as deep as their struggles had been 
violent/' 

18. The Kingdom of Prance under German Hegemony. 
— Soon after Louis IV. died from a fall from his horse 
(September 9, 954). He left two sons: Lothaire, aged 
thirteen, and Charles, still an infant. His widow, Ger- 
berge, gave them into the protection of their uncle. Otto 
I. Hedwig, a sister, like Gerberge, of the powerful king 
of the Germans, appealed to Otto on the death of her 
husband, Hugh the Great. She had three sons: Hugh, 
who was duke of France; Otto and Henry, who were suc- 
cessively dukes of Burgundy. The intestinal struggles 
of the aristocracy against royalty under Louis d'Outre- 
mer had reduced the kingdom to nothing more than an 
annex of Germany. 

19. Lothaire's Keign and Death. — Lothaire reigned 
thirty-two years. He wore himself out in the same strug- 
gles, and encountered the same obstacles, as did his 
father. At first he succeeded in establishing his brother 
in part of Lorraine, at Brussels; he wanted the rest for 
himself, and took possession of Verdun; but the intrigues 
of Hugh Capet and the secret plottings of Adalbero, 
archbishop of Eheims, held him back. However, he soon 
died, at the age of forty-five. His burial was magnificent. 
** His body was placed on a bier adorned with the insignia 
of royalty, wrapped in silk and covered with a purple 
cloak embroidered in gold and precious stones; the bier 
was carried by the nobles of the kingdom. In front 
walked the bishops and priests bearing the Gospels and 
crucifixes. The warriors followed, sad-visaged; then came 
the crowd, lamenting.'' Did it have a presentiment that 
it was accompanying, not only the burial of its king, but 
also that of Carolingian royalty? 



244 TEE LAST CAROLINGIANS. 

20. Intrigues with Germany against Louis V. Adalbera 
and Gerbert. — Louis V. succeeded, without dispute, to his 
father, who had shared the throne with him since 979. 
He was politic enough to ally himself with the duke of 
France, who, according to general opinion, was the most 
powerful lord of the realm; but he could not deal as 
successfully with his chancellor. Archbishop Adalbero. 
The latter was a Lorrainer by birth, and belonged to 
a noble family which was devoted to the royal house 
of Germany. During Lothaire's wars in Lorraine he had 
played a double part, that laid him open to suspicion; 
but he escaped the dangers attending his uncertain posi- 
tion, thanks to the ability of his principal counsellor,. 
Gerbert. Gerbert was born between the years 940 and 
945 in the neighbourhood of Aurillac. His family 
was poor, and he became a monk. He went to Spain, 
under favourable conditions, and there acquired a thor- 
ough knowledge of mathematics; then he returned to 
Rheims to study philosophy. Of superior intelligence,. 
he rapidly acquired a deep knowledge of the subjects he 
took up, and soon attained such a reputation for knowl- 
edge that Adalbero placed him at the head of the epis- 
copal school. The emperor. Otto IL, also gained his 
support by giving him the abbey of Bobbio in Italy; Ger- 
bert stayed there scarcely a year, and after the emperor's 
death he resumed his position of professor at Rheims. 
But henceforth he was bound to Germany by ties of affec- 
tion and by his duties as a vassal; he therefore entered 
with determination into the plans of his archbishop. Both 
worked actively, and, as it appears, effectively, to secure 
the crown for young Otto III., which his cousin, Henry of 
Bavaria, claimed; they also bestirred themselves secretly 
to hinder the enterprises of the king of France in Lor- 
raine^ and succeeded in winning over to their cause the 



THE USURPATION OF HUGH CAPET. 245 

young Duke Hugh, always watchful of the advances which 
royalty might make. Louis V. washed to break up these 
intrigues. Adalbero, accused of treason, was summoned 
to appear before him, but the king died suddenly from 
the effects of an accident while hunting (May 22, 987). 
He left no children, and had no other heir than his uncle, 
Charles, duke of Lower-Lorraine. 

21. The Usurpation of Hugh Capet Favoured by tlie 
Church and Germany, 987. — The archbishop of Eheims 
seized his opportunity: the day following the royal inter- 
ment he called for a meeting of the nobles presided over 
by Hugh, and was declared innocent. Another meeting, 
held at Senlis, and which he presided over, conferred 
Toyal dignity on the duke, who was, moreover, Lothaire's 
cousin on the wife's side. Hugh was crowned at Noyon 
(June 1, 987). His renunciation of all claim to Lor- 
raine was the price that he paid for royal power. The 
accession of Hugh Capet (so named because he wore the 
cope of an abbot of Saint Martin of Tours) was a triumph 
for the Church, which had worked to this purpose, and for 
feudal aristocracy, whose chief ascended the Carolingian 
throne; that, is to say, a triumph for two elements which, 
after having been the support of the State, had worked 
eagerly — more often unconsciously and against their own 
interests — to destroy it. They had at last succeeded. The 
revolution of 987 seals a new order of affairs political and 
social, whose institutions it is important to understand 
well. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FEUDAL SYSTEM.* 

The feudal system was organised in the tenth and elev- 
enth centuries, but the elements of which it was composed 
began to develop earlier. In it are to be distinguished 
three fundamental features: vassalage, benefices, and 
immunities. 

1, The Constituent Elements of Feudalism. Vassalag^e. 
— Vassalage has been likened to Roman or Gallo-Roman 

* Sources. — All the chronicles of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh 
centuries; numberless charters published in many works and collec- 
tions. These charters were often collected, even in the Middle 
Ages, in registers, which served as the title deeds of the property of 
churches and abbeys, and were known as Cartularies. An " Inven- 
toire des Cartulaires conserves dans les Bibliotheque de Paris et aux 
Archives Rationales, suivi d'une Bibliographie des Cartulaires 
publics en France depuis 1840," has been made out by M. Ul. 
Eobert (1878). The most celebrated is the Cartulary of the abbot of 
Saint-Germain des Pres, Irminon, published by B. Guerard, in the 
collection "Documents inedits," with important " Prolegomenes," 
which were partly rectified in a new edition by A. Longuon (2 
vols., 1887-1895). For an understanding of the terms and feudal 
institutions, reference must constantly be made to Du Gauge: 
" Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis." The "Chansons de 
Geste," composed in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, 
depict feudal life and chivalry in action. An analysis of these 
writings will be found in "Epopees fran9aises," by M. Leon Gautier» 
second edition. 

Literature. — Esmein, "Cours ;^lementaire d'Histoire du Droit 
Fran^ais"; Schroeder, " Lehrbuch der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte "; 
Luchaire, " Manuel des Institutions Frangaises"; Viollet, as above, 
vol. 1. pp. 419, ff. The last three contain full bibliographies. 

246 



THE BENEFICE, OR FIEF. 247 

patronage, or to the Celtic clientage, or the Germanic 
mundium. The comparison is inexact, for patronage and 
clientage presuppose conditions of dependence between 
persons of different conditions, whilst the vassal is and 
remains a free person, and of the same condition as his 
seignior. Vassalage is, therefore, to speak truly, neither 
Roman, nor Gallic, nor Germanic; it is Merovin^an and 
Carolingian. The act by which the bond of vassalage was 
originally contracted is ^' commendation." The one who 
thus pledged himself became the man of his seignior; thus 
the act of becoming the vassal of another was called 
" hommage." Necessity urged men to thus commend 
themselves; it was imperative in the eighth century during 
the period of the faineant kings; in the ninth, at the 
time of the Saracen, Hungarian, and Norse invasions; in 
the tenth, during the struggles of French royalty against 
the aristocracy, the Church, and Germany. 

2. The Benefice, or Fief. — To assure the fidelity of his 
vassal, or rather to enable him to fulfil his personal obli- 
gations, the seignior usually gave a benefice to his follower 
or man. The original meaning of the word is " benefit '*; 
it signified the gifts that the rich man, the powerful man, 
made to the ones whom he protected. At first these were 
doubtless head of cattle {Vieh, whence fevum, fief); in 
the period to which we have come they represented free- 
dom from taxes, offices, lands, and churches, and the right 
to the use of the forests, etc. It has been seen above 
how the Carolingian benefices w^ere established in the 
eighth and ninth centuries; during the course of the 
tenth century they gradually became hereditary. This 
evolution may be considered as complete in the eleventh 
century. The word benefice then disappears to give place 
to that of fief. As benefices were almost always asso- 
ciated with the functions and rights of sovereignty, the 



248 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

word ^' honour '' was employed to signify both the func- 
tions and the lands conferred by the suzerain on the 
vassal. 

3. Freeholds or Allodial Lands. — From that time the 
possessor of a benefice received, not the full ownership, 
but only the use of the land. Doubtless there were lands 
possessed freely and entire; they were called allodial 
lands.* Holders of such lands were free in respect to 
these possessions; they were liable to none of the obliga- 
tions imposed on vassals; but the number of such free- 
holders decreased constantly. They held their position 
in the south of France at least as late as the thirteenth 
century; in the north, they left but a few traditions, 
which have become almost legendary. The " kingdom " 
of Ivetot of past times was doubtless an old allod that 
was not absorbed into the feudal system. Henceforth it 
became the rule, in this region, that there was no land 
without a seignior; that is to say, there was no property 
exempt from feudal obligations. 

4. Restricted Proprietorship : Fief and Censive Tenures* 
— Naturally the master of land did not cede it to every 
follower on the same conditions. He had to provide for 
two essential needs: care of his body and defence of his 
life. Therefore he took into his service strong arms to 
fight for him, and another set of men to till his fields, 
make his clothing and weapons, build his houses and 
fortresses. Now the men of the Middle Ages, filled with' 
the warlike spirit of the Germans, looked upon the mili- 
tary calling as the noblest condition; and in the times of 
invasions and intestine wars it seemed the most useful. 

* Originally, in Salic law, ' ' allodial " meant inheritance in general. 
Then lands were granted in alode, that is to say, given as an 
hereditary possession. Later, an allod signified land held in this 
%ay. 



IMMXTNITY. 249 

So the nobles monopolised it. Artisans, labourers, villeins 
(roturiers), in short, were restricted to servile occupa- 
tions; simple freemen fell into a condition of half servi- 
tude, varying according to circumstances and individuals, 
while the most enterprising among them formed a privi- 
leged class of nobles unknown to the Merovingians. Soon 
the term benefice (or fief) was restricted to the lands 
granted on condition of military service, or service re- 
puted noble, and censive tenure implied other services. 
The status of persons stamped the character of the land. 
In so far as the service was noble or servile, the land was 
noble or common. Conversely the conditions of land- 
ownership implied the status of the owner. As a general 
rule, the owner of a fief was noble; the holder of a censive 
tenure was a villein; and, since lands held in fief varied 
in importance, there was, among the nobles, a hierarchy 
determined by the hierarchy of their lands. It was also 
quite natural to retain in the feudal world the former 
administrative divisions of Charlemagne's time — duchies, 
counties, etc. — yet changed. 

5. Immunity. Usurpation of Royal Rights. — Feudal- 
ism was not solely a social order by which the status of 
land and persons was regulated in a new and original 
way; it was also a political regime, in which the sovereign 
power was dismembered for the benefit of feudal lords — 
at least of the greatest among them. This change was 
also gradual; the "immunity" was one of its most potent 
causes. As has been seen during the Merovingian period, 
immunity was the exemption from certain dues, or certain 
public obligations, or the granting by the king of financial 
and judicial rights, especially to churches and monas- 
teries. Charlemagne often granted exemption from cus- 
toms, market duties, and tolls; Louis I. and his successors 
went so far as to accord the right to coin money. All 



250 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

royal rights were thus by degrees granted to the holders 
of immunities. Thus the counts who wielded power in 
the king's name became actual sovereigns in their coun- 
ties when the latter had become hereditary. Actually, 
there was never more than a relatively small number of 
feudal sovereigns, but the most insignificant noble had 
his share in the public power, since, as the result of an 
evolution which is imperfectly known, the owners of 
fiefs acquired the right to dispense justice in their own 
names to their vassals and subjects; and the powerful 
vassals, successors of the former functionaries of state, 
took unto themselves the privilege of granting, in their 
turn, rights which they had received or usurped. 

6. France Divided into Large Fiefs and Ecclesiastical 
Domains. — The territory was thus covered by great and 
petty seigniories, depending the one on the other. 
Pirst in order were the duchies: France, which became 
extinct after 987; Burgundy, which at that time be- 
longed to a brother of Hugh Capet j and Aquitaine; 
then Normandy and Brittany, which had almost abso- 
lute independence. The duchy of Gascony was not 
really a part of the kingdom of France; rather, it was 
allied to the kingdom of Navarre; but through mar- 
riage it was joined to Aquitaine in 1052, and hencefor- 
ward the countries lying to the south of Dordogne 
and Gironde shared the fate of those situated between 
the Garonne and the Loire. The most powerful of the 
counties were Flanders on the north and Toulouse on the 
south. These large fiefs were identical with old adminis- 
trative and political divisions, whose rulers had slowly 
acquired an independence, which was, however, always 
disputed. With the large fiefs must be counted the eccle- 
eiastical domains grown from royal immunities : such were 
the counties of Tournai, Beauvais, Noyon, Laon, Kheims, 



THE TAKING POSSESSION OF A FIEF. 251 

Chalons, and Langres. The county of Paris, given by 
Hugh Capet to Bouchard de Montmorency, passed to the 
latter's son, who became bishop of Paris, and after this 
time almost all the fiefs of the county of Paris depended 
on the bishopric; however, the bishop never bore the title. 
These vassals in turn had rear vassals, and so on down, 
so that it would be impossible to say exactly how many 
fiefs there were in France at any period of the Middle 
Ages. This federation substituted a new society and a 
different order for the former Frankish society, which 
had disintegrated through anarchy; yet feudal rules 
allowed an ample opportunity for the use of arbitrary 
force. Society being, in fact, military, and public author- 
ity weak, the barons thought they had a right to exact 
justice for themselves by carrying on warfare with their 
neighbours. It took centuries for royalty to suppress the 
custom of private wars. 

We must now see how, as a general rule, a man took 
possession of a fief, what were the reci|3rocal obligations 
of vassal and lord, and lastly how a large fief was 
administered. 

7. The Taking Possession of a Fief: Fealty and Hom- 
age. — The ceremony of fealty and homage constituted 
the taking possession of a fief. Homage, the act by which 
one placed himself under the dependence of a lord, was 
nothing else than the old commendation. In addition 
the man, the vassal, was obliged to take an oath of fealty 
to his suzerain. The two acts usually took place at i?lie 
same time, though the form was different. The would-be 
vassal kneeled down before the lord and placed his two 
hands joined in those of the latter, who then raised him 
and gave him the kiss of peace. But the oath of fealty 
was taken on the Gospels or some relic. There was 
something humiliating in the ceremony of homage, soj 



252 TEE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

that powerful feudal lords occasionally refused to per- 
form it; instead they took the somewhat indefinite oath of 
fealty. In the twelfth century the two acts of fealty 
and homage were combined; by swearing faith to his 
suzerain one became his man. Later it was felt to be 
necessary to record the ceremony in writing; this was the 
aveu, a report of the act by which an individual had 
*^ avowed " himself the man of some lord; on his part 
the seignior exacted a written description of all that 
the fief comprised^ the so-called denombrement. At last, 
in the fourteenth century, the whole ceremony was repre- 
sented by two documents: one, drawn up in the presence 
of a notary, witnessing the taking of the oath of fealty 
and homage, the other containing the aveu and denom- 
hrement. 

8. Investiture. — At the same time that the suzerain re- 
ceived homage from his vassal, he handed to him some 
material object which symbolised the fief; this part of 
the ceremony was known as investiture. The investi- 
ture of a field was represented by a clod, of a forest by 
a branch; a prelate was given gloves, a crosier, and a 
pastoral ring, etc. The vassal was expected on his side to 
pay for investiture, otherwise the contract was invalid. 

9. The Acquisition of Domains. — These ceremonies 
finished, the bond of vassalage was formed. It was more 
or less close, according as the homage was simple or 
liege. Liege homage, which occurred rarely before the 
twelfth century, carried with it certain exact obligations, 
and gradually took the place of simple homage. Death 
i^aturally cancelled the relationship between suzerain and 
iVassal; even when fiefs had become hereditary, they did 
not pass by right to the heir. The fief was considered 
to fall back into the possession of the lord, and the heir 
iwas required to buy it back, or to redeem it. To do this 



OBLIGATIONS OF VASSAL TO SUZERAIN. 253 

he paid a " relief," which was infinitely varied; but when, 
the relief was paid the suzerain could not refuse to accept 
his vassal's homage. Vassalage thus became not only a 
means of the seignior's for acquiring devoted adherents, 
but also the general method of gaining landed posses- 
sions. Land which to-day would be bought with money, 
was then paid for in personal services. 

10. Acquisition of Non-Noble Lands. — These lands were 
acquired in much the same way as noble lands. The 
villein (roturier) was granted censive tenure on becoming 
the man of the seignior, who gave him possession, or 
seisin, by a ceremony similar to that of investiture; the 
tenant had a " declaration " made out similar to that of the 
denomhrement ; he transmitted the land to his heirs, who 
had also to pay a relief; should he sell his property the 
buyer must pay an alienation fee called lods et vente, which 
amounted usually to a fifth of the revenue. 

11. Obligations of a Vassal to his Suzerain. — The vassal 
owed certain personal services to his suzerain, which w^re 
considered noble; the principal ones being military ser- 
vice and judicial service. Military service had to be 
rendered when demanded by the lord paramount, and at 
the vassal's expense. The latter was expected to present 
himself armed and mounted; the horseman was peculiarly 
the soldier in this regime, so that in the Latin speech of 
the period miles always meant a knight. The vassals 
soon succeeded in restricting this obligation; for example, 
the liege man was only required to serve once a year, 
during a definite time, often fixed at forty days. When 
the lord administered justice he called his vassals to him, 
and it was their duty to come to his court — as well to 
help in rendering judgment as to be judged. They also 
aided him with their counsels in the administration of 
the fief. In certain exceptional circumstances the vassal 



254 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

,was required to pay a sum of money as a ransom for his 
lord taken prisoner in war, on the marriage of his eldest 
daughter, or when his son was knighted, and later when he 
went to the Crusades. These obligations were known as 
" aids." 

12. Obligations of a Suzerain to his Vassal. — If the 
j vassal failed in one or another of these duties he was 
- considered a traitor, and the suzerain might confiscate 

his fief; but as long as he was faithful to his obligations, 
the latter was obliged to support him in his fief and 
defend him against every enemy. 

13. Hereditary Rights in Feudalism. — On the death of 
a lord the inheritance passed to his children. Eules of 
succession varied in different countries. In one place, 
male heirs alone could inherit lands; in another, women 
were allowed to share in an inheritance, although incap- 
able of bearing arms. Most often the principal part of a 
large fief — the chief town of a barony — was inalienable, 
passing on to the oldest son. The exclusive rights of 
primogeniture and male succession speedily became 
general, and, until the end of the eighteenth century, 
gave a peculiar stamp to feudal institutions; they tended 
to give to the French nobility a caste feeling which it 
was far from having in the beginning. 

14. The Organisation of a Fief. The Domain. Ten- 
ants, Noble and Common. Serfs. — The extent of fiefs 
varied greatly. Like the Roman and Merovingian viJlce, 
they might consist of arable lands, meadows, vineyards, 
forests, winepresses, mills, churches, or chapels. Usually 
the lord kept only a part of his lands for his immediate 
use, known as his " domain," and worked under the 
system of services, or the corvee; the remaining property 
was parcelled out to persons, more or less dependent, and 
formed the " tenures." The noble tenants were vassals. 



SEIOmORIAL ADMINISTRATION OF A FIEF. 255 

As for the non-noble tenants, they were like our lease- 
holders or farmers, except that their tenure was perpetual, 
and the rent or cens was fixed. It was often the ease also 
that they were not personally free. Slavery of the old 
type had been almost universally supplanted by serfdom; 
serfs had individual rights, but they were attached to the 
soil which they tilled, both for their own use and for that 
of the seignior, from father to son. Their condition 
varied indefinitely, as did the dues which they were forced 
to pay their lord. The most wretched condition was that 
of the serfs taxable and workable at their lord's will and 
pleasure, from whom he might exact heavy labour with 
no remuneration. They were also termed mortmain 
tenants, since their hand was powerless to transmit 
property, and the lord took possession of it at their 
death. 

15. Seigniorial Administration of a Fief. — In his own 
domain and over the lands of his tenants the seignior, 
especially the great baron, was a kind of sovereign. He 
declared war, coined money, administered justice, and 
levied taxes in his own name and for his own benefit. 
In the largest fiefs the functionaries were often invested 
with the same duties as during the Carolingian period; 
there were seneschals, constables, cup-bearers, grooms of 
the chambers, and marshals, all holding hereditary offices. 
Deeds were drawn up in the chancellor's office of the lord, 
and bore his seal. Under the seneschal's orders were the 
provosts, or in the south, haillis; in villages and cities the 
lord's peasants were supervised by intendants, or maires, 
who were of the same status as the peasants. Justice was 
not administered to everyone in the same tribunals; it was 
a general rule that every man should be judged by his 
peers, that is to say, his equals; hence all suits were 
pleaded before a body like a jury. The lord presided over 



256 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

'the assizes of his court, except in non-feudal cases, when 
he was represented by his provosts, or in Normandy by 
viscounts, and in the southern provinces by vicars. The 
same judicial powers were not vested alike in all lords; 
those who administered high justice might alone judge 
certain crimes, like murder, arson, and' rape; they might 
condemn a criminal to death by the sword, or hanging, 
and have him " dragged " before sending him to be 
hanged. Those who possessed only low justice could not 
decide questions of life and death. 

16. Eevenues of a Fief. — The lord drew revenues from 
various sources: (1) Those due him as sovereign with 
royal rights, such as the aids, judicial fees, the fee of 
Iris, or shipwreck, and epave, or his claim to all waifs or 
goods that have no proprietor; of formariage, which was 
exacted of serfs who wished to marry outside of his juris- 
diction, and of aubaine, which placed at his disposition 
the property of outsiders who might die on his soil, etc.; 
(2) The revenues which he received as landed proprietor, 
which varied extensively. They may, however, be classi- 
fied, on one hand, as the regular products of the domain, 
and on the other, as the irregular returns of lands held 
under feudal and censive tenures. 

1. Tenants turned over a part of the crops to their 
lord, for provisions for himself and family; they also 
were required at times to lodge and feed him; he chose 
the finest cuts of meat and the most excellent fish. He 
required them to till his lands and keep houses and prop- 
erty in repair; he alone had the right to own granaries, 
bakeries, mills, wine-presses, threshing floors, and to make 
the peasants pay for threshing, grinding, and cooking 
their grain, and pressing their grapes, apples, or olives. 
He levied tolls at city gates, and mileage for highways 
and waterways, and for market rights; forests, and hunt- 



REQUISITES OF ENIOHTHOOD. 257 

ing, and fishing privileges were mostly reserved for 
him. 

2. Feudal lands brought in the rights of relief, and the 
dues at sales and exchanges. Yet the revenues from these 
sources were not great; there was little money struck, and 
feudal lords rarely accumulated much of it. Riches came 
immediately from the soil, and produce was at once con- 
sumed. This is why the ownership of land was so de- 
sired, and benefices were mostly in the form of land- 
grants, and why fiefs became hereditary. Feudalism took 
its rise in economic causes as well as in those that were 
political and social. 

17. Chivalry. — Chivalry was closely connected with 
feudalism. It differed in that it was personal and not 
hereditary: one might be a lord, yet not a knight, in the 
sense of chivalry, and a knight without even being a no- 
ble; it was a system which modified and completed feu- 
dalism. It was not an institution, but an ethical and 
voluntary association shedding a ray of ideal beauty 
through society corrupted by anarchy. 

18. Requisites of Knighthood. Ceremony of Confer- 
ring Knighthood. — Any man who had been given arms, 
or, who had received the accolade, under certain condi- 
tions, and according to a regular formula, was said to be 
a knight. All men might aspire to knighthood: villeins, 
singers {jongleurs), and comedians — even serfs; but 
usually the title was only given to nobles. At first the age 
at which one might become a knight was undetermined; 
it was about fifteen during the eleventh and twelfth cen- 
turies; in the thirteenth it was more often twenty-one, 
the age of majority according to the common law. 
Knighthood might be conferred on the field of battle or 
in any serious or unforeseen circumstance; yet it was more 
often giving during one of the great Church festivals of 



258 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM, 

the year, such, as Christmas, Easter, or WhitsTintide. 
Above all the aspirant must be a Christian, brave, true to 
his promise, liberal, loving the Church and his country. 
Any knight might bestow knighthood on another. Usu- 
ally the act was performed by the father of the would-be 
knight, or by a relative, or his lord. Several of these 
godfathers in chivalry were allowed if, for instance, the 
knight were son of a powerful prince or king. Down to 
the twelfth century the ceremony of conferring knight- 
hood was most simple: the godfather buckled on the 
young man's sword, which was preeminently his weapon; 
then he gave him a violent blow with the palm of the hand 
or the fist, the accolade, a kind of rough confirmation to 
which he must submit, if not without rejoinder, at least 
without returning it. Sometimes the godfather added a 
few words of advice to the blow, which amounted to: " Be 
a valiant knight! " If the ceremony occurred during a 
festival or at a leisure time, the newly-made knight was 
expected to vault upon his horse, without touching the 
stirrups, and strike down with his lance mannikins or 
trophies set up on posts; the game was called quintain, 
and it brought out the skill and strength of the knight. 
This ceremony, which was purely secular and still bar- 
barian, soon became a Church function: the aspirants to 
knighthood would go to the priests to have the swords 
blessed which they were to wear, and would pass the night 
which preceded the ceremony in prayer. Thus it was 
that Goeffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou, was armed and 
knighted in 1120, when he was fifteen years old. Finally, 
when the Church had definitely acquired control of this 
act, which up to that time had been a lay ceremony, every 
part of it was performed at the altar. The priest buckled 
on the sword and administered the accolade with apos- 
tolic sweetness; every phase of the service was imbued 



TEAINING FOR KNIGHTHOOD. 259 

with that symbolism which imparts a charm, though it 
is somewhat insipid, to the curious treatise in verse of the 
thirteenth century " On the Order of Chivalry." 

19. Religion of Chivalry : Honour. — Be a valiant knight ! 
The teachings of chivalry are summed up in these words. 
They carried the germ of a special religion, the religion 
of honour, which was to inspire knights not less than the 
ancient Christian faith. The pious king, Louis IX., knew 
no more beautiful word in the French language than 
^' prudhomme," which, he said, ^^ fills one's mouth only to 
pronounce it." 

20. Training for Knighthood. Tourneys. — War was the 
engrossing occupation of the feudal baron and knight. 
He was early trained to it. He was left to the care of 
women until he was seven. He played marbles, battle- 
dore, and shuttlecock; he learned " tables," a kind of 
backgammon, and chess; he also began to ride, for the 
best horsemen are those who have ridden since childhood. 
After he was seven he was given over to the training of 
men. The priests taught him little, yet he was neither 
unlettered nor ignorant. But his favourite exercises were 
fencing and hunting. The chase was pursued mainly with 
birds or dogs; falconry and hunting were perfected arts 
during the Middle Ages. War was taught in part by 
theory, but mostly through practice. A treatise on tac- 
tics, written by Vegetius in the fourth century, was about 
all that was known to the Middle Ages of the art of 
war and siege; and this was very simple. Tourneys were 
the manoeuvres of those times. There were actual com- 
bats waged with the weapons of war. In the thirteenth 
century knights were ordered to use lances without an 
iron head, and dulled swords; which, however, did not do 
away with the bloody character of the sport. At a tour- 
nament at Neuss, near Cologne, in 1240, more than sixty 



260 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

participants were killed. One of Saint Louis's sons, 
Eobert of Clermont, head of the Bourbon branch, was so 
badly hurt in a struggle, by blows on his helmet, that he 
went mad. He had but just been knighted. Therefore 
the Church intervened, and Saint Louis forbade these 
bloody pastimes, yet custom persisted in observing them. 
However, the presence of ladies to witness these rough 
encounters gradually did away with their brutality. 
Battles were nothing more than tournaments on a large 
scale. As in classic times, they were contests, to which 
the combatants defied one another with loud shouts, and 
in which they fought hand to hand. During the Middle 
Ages there were many warriors of great personal valour, 
like Eichard Coeur-de-Lion; but it is difficult to find any 
able captains, real strategists, and tacticians. 

21. Valets and Bachelors. — This somewhat self-denying 
and extremely virile education was usually completed 
elsewhere than in the apprentice-knight's home, with 
some rich baron who liked to have about him and bring 
up, " nourish,'' young nobles, and initiate them, by exam- 
ple, into the arduous duties of feudal life. In this con- 
dition the young man was called a valet or damoismu, or, 
should he have special services to perform for his master, 
esquire; the term page was only employed in this sense 
dating from the fourteenth century. Those who were too 
poor to aspire to knighthood remained esquires. There 
was in this a trace of the old companionship, which per- 
haps had not entirely disappeared. Knights who did not 
own fiefs were called knights bachelors. 

22. Military Costume of a Knight. — The military dress 
and the dwelling are inseparable parts of the conception 
of a feudal lord. Down to the eleventh century knights 
still wore the armour of the Carolingian soldier, a leath- 
ern or heavy linen vest, covered with scales of metal or 



SHIELD AND COAT OF ARMS. 261 

horn; but from the preceding century they preferred the 
hauberk, a long coat of mail which reached to the knees, 
with sleeves and a hood of mail, the latter called coiffe or 
veniaille; the hauberk was fitted tight to the body by 
means of a belt; knights also wore a leathern belt orna- 
mented with small metal plates; in the thirteenth century 
legs and arms were protected by greaves and gloves of 
mail. Often a long sleeveless robe, made of some light rich 
material, was worn over the hauberk, and is known as the 
surcot. The helmet was put on over the hood. It was 
made of iron, was conical in shape,- with a band of iron or 
nose-piece to protect the face. Towards the end of the 
twelfth century the helmet was made rounding at the 
top, like a cap, and at last became entirely C3^1indrical. 
Such was the helmet of Philip Augustus. Under Saint 
Louis it had the form of a large retort of metal, rounded, 
and reaching to the shoulders, with holes for the eyes, 
ears, and nostrils. The short broadsword, with a round 
hilt, and the wooden lance, tipped with a lozenge-shaped 
piece of iron, were the offensive weapons. The banner or 
streamer, with two or three peaks, was nailed below the 
socket; in the thirteenth century the banner was replaced 
by a small square flag and by the pennant, a triangular 
flag bearing the armorial device of the knight. They also 
carried sometimes a battle-axe. The only defensive arm 
was the shield, which consisted of a frame-work of wood, 
covered with heavy leather, and held in place by iron 
bands, which were more or less ornamented. The iron 
bands converged, and were held together in the middle 
by a buckle, which was like the protruding head of an 
enormous rivet; hence the name of buckler, by which the 
shield was finally known. 

23. The Shield and Coat of Arms. — The shield was 
curved; broad at the top, becoming gradually smaller so 



262 TEE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

as to end in a point at the bottom; it was often decorated 
with some pictures, which after the end of the twelfth 
century were emblematical. Armorial bearings were then 
significant; their composition and interpretation made up 
a language whose key was alone possessed by heralds, 
the masters of heraldic art, or the science of heraldry. 

24. The Feudal Castle. — The feudal castle was usually 
built on an easily defended site. The land, surrounded by 
a wooden paling, was divided into two parts by a moat. 
The general quarters were on one side, which was known 
as the courtyard; the liiaster^s dwelling or donjon was in 
the other. It was a kind of wooden blockhouse, several 
stories high, built on an elevation, often an artificial one. 
A wooden bridge, supported by buttresses, was approached 
from the exterior by an inclined plane, and led to the door 
of the donjon; in case of alarm it might be easily and 
quickly hewn down. Gradually stone took the place of 
wood. It was used in building the donjon, always placed 
high on its elevated ground; the steps, which led from 
the gate to the courtyard; and the enclosure, which was 
protected by towers, flat within and round without. In 
order to protect the quarters of the castle, the store- 
houses, servants' and workmen's houses, a second enclo- 
sure was built, called the bailey. Such were the two 
main divisions of a feudal castle of the twelfth century. 
At last a way was invented of protecting the outer doorg 
by means of loop-holes or barbacans; the defenders were 
protected from arrows by a battlemented walk going the 
rounds of the enclosure, supplied with loop-holes and 
roofed with wood, forming a gallery; this projected be- 
yond the perpendicular line of the wall, so that the 
operations of the enemy might be watched, , even at the 
foot of the ramparts, where blasting and mining were 
undertaken. Thus built, castles were often considered 



FEUDALISM IN THE CHURCH. 263 

impregnable. Yet they were taken, for since the time 
of the Komans the art of laying siege to a place had 
constantly improved. It must be remembered, in order 
to understand the feudal period, that France was covered 
with strongholds, and that their walls often protected 
insignificant tyrants, greedy, and eager for vengeance, 
war, and booty. 

25. Feudalism in the Church. — Who could suppress 
their outbreaks? Royalty was powerless. Could the 
Church do it? It, too, had the feudal spirit. Since the 
time of Charlemagne it had grown richer and richer. To- 
wards the end of his reign, an abbot of Saint Germain 
des Pres, Irminon, had an inventory made of his posses- 
sions. It appears from this list, or register, that the 
abbey, before being pillaged by Normans, owned nearly 
one hundred thousand acres, on which were living about 
three thousand families, and which brought in at least 
two millions in revenues. When finally the feudal system 
was established, abbots continued to be important per- 
sons, and were often employed at the king's court. But 
they were not yet a power — far from it. Although abbeys 
often received fiefs, they were more often given as a fief. 
It was different with the secular clergy. Bishops were 
actual feudal lords, with their manse — that is, their land 
considered as a whole, from whose revenues they lived, 
they and their clerical household; they held also, in the 
same way, vassals, from whom they exacted homage and 
services. Besides their ecclesiastical jurisdiction, to which 
their priests were subject, they exercised also high and 
low justice over their men. And as they, too, acknowl- 
edged feudal obligations, and since the Church forbade 
military service, it was performed for them by one of 
their vassals, who was scarcely a disinterested protector, 
often a dangerous one. He was the advocate (advocatus), 



264 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

or vidame (vicedominus). He was also entrusted with the 
lay administration of the Church possessions. Rich and 
unarmed, bishops were compelled to contribute, besides, 
to the expenses of the sovereign. In the Middle Ages 
Church property was a constant and almost inexhaustible 
source of royal revenue; the weight of extraordinary- 
taxes fell most heavily upon it, and the king exercised 
his right of demanding free entertainment most fre- 
quently in ecclesiastical lands. On the death of a bishop 
or abbot, while his followers, the advocate leading, pil- 
laged his personal effects (by a right recognised in part 
of the feudal world), the king laid hands on the vacant see 
and drew its revenues until a new occupant had been 
appointed. This was his right of regale, or regalian right. 
Pretexts were invented for burdening the Church. Al- 
though a bishop or abbot might die, the Church did not; 
lands which had been granted her in feudal tenure be- 
came property in mortmain, consequently the lord could 
no longer levy any of the dues for transmission of prop- 
erty, mentioned above. Then the Church was compelled, 
on acquiring a fief, to pay once for all a large sum down 
by the right of amortissement, often equal to the value of 
the property, and never less than half; she was also forced 
to place a man over it to represent her, to live and die 
for the Church, in the event of whose death the charges 
on change of property might be collected. 

26. The Church Supports the Royal Power and Restrains 
Feudal Anarchy. — On the whole the Church lost nothing^ 
by this arrangement. She was under the protection of 
the king and his officers. Although taxes for the benefit 
of the king had been done away with, she still collected 
tithes; a contribution resembling the one paid by the 
Israelites to the tribe of Levi, whose payment had been, 
considered a pious act by the Merovingians, and made a 



EXCESSES OF PRIVATE WARS. 265 

legal one by the Carolingians. In effect the clergy was 
closely associated with what remained of the government; 
it provided the king and great feudal lords with educated 
and able counsellors, who were, moreover, little to be 
feared, since, on account of the celibacy of the priesthood^ 
there was no danger of their offices becoming hereditary. 
In addition to this, the Church, inspired by the spirit of 
discipline and obedience, writing and preaching in the 
name of a religion of peace and charity, was the natural 
enemy of feudal anarchy. 

27. Excesses of Private Wars. The Peace and the 
Truce of God. — At the end of the tenth century, and 
under the early Capetians, the state of affairs was pitable. 
War weighed heavily on all points of the kingdoms which 
had sprung from the Carolingian empire. Feudal lords 
in France waged constant warfare: Anjou against Cham- 
pagne and Brittany; Normandy against Anjou; Perigord 
against Poitou; Acquitaine against Toulouse; Flanders 
against Lorraine; the duchy of Burgundy against the 
kingdom of Burgundy, etc. The number of great fiefs 
represented just so many permanent wars. They were 
rarely sanguinary, but they spread terrible havoc through- 
out the land. Frequent famines completed the work of 
destruction begun by armed men. * People were in such 
misery that they even ate human fleshy or revolted, as 
did the Norman peasants in 997. Therefore the belief 
in the approaching end of the world was widespread, 
though not because the year 1000 was more feared than 
any preceding one; it is true that this was an inter- 
pretation of a saying ascribed to Christ, that the world 
would not last more than a thousand years, but it was 
not known when this dreaded expiration of time would 
occur. In the meantime the Church tried to make peace. 
Councils, partly composed of laymen, partly of eccle- 



266 TEE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

siastics, were convoked at Charroux (989), at Limoges 
(994), at le Puy (998), at Poitiers (1000), etc., which de- 
creed: " That henceforth, no man should break into a 
church; that no one should molest or injure monks and 
their companions; that no should dare to take a peasant 
or peasant woman; nor steal or kill colts, oxen, asses, 
sheep, goats, and pigs; that no one should interfere with 
merchants, nor pillage their wares." Those who might 
break this peace of God would be excommunicated, ana- 
thematised, and driven from the sanctuary of the church, 
until they should be amenable to its commands. The 
council of Toulouges (1041) promulgated besides, that 
during certain days of the week, from Wednesday evening 
to Monday morning, during certain feast days, at Advent 
and Lent, there should be cessation of private wars; this 
was the Truce of God. Anathemas and fines were not 
enough; an armed force was needed, capable of making its 
decrees and penalties respected. It was with this purpose 
in view that in certain dioceses associations for the ob- 
servance of peace were formed, made up of men of all 
conditions, who swore to observe the decisions of the 
councils. They were called ^^ peace jurors," or " the peace 
commune." The well-born members of the order were 
termed " paissiers," and, in the south of France, a special 
tax, or " pesade," was levied for the maintenance of the 
institution. 

28. Impotence of the Church. — The association was 
ratified by the Council of Clermont (1095), as well as the 
Peace and Truce of God, but these efforts bore no appar- 
ent results. The strong hand of control was needed to 
bring order out of this chaos, and this was not the busi- 
ness of the Church. She herself realised it, and expressed 
her wish for a strong and efficient royal power. She had 
doubtless contributed to the weakening of the Carolingian 



IMPOTENCE OF THE CHURCH. 267 

government; but if Hincmar had, in spite of Germany, 
placed the crown on the head of Charles the Bald in 858, 
and Adalbero had done the same for Hugh Capet in 987, 
contrary to Carolingian rights, it was because the Church 
wished to see the sovereign power exercised independ- 
ently and with dignity. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

GEEMANT AND ITALY (888-1056).* 

1. The states of Germany in the Ninth Century. — At 

the end of the ninth century Germany had not yet be- 
come a nation; it was composed of four peoples, clearly 
defined by name, history, and institutions. They were: 
(1) The Alemannians or Swabians, former Suevi, dwell- 
ing between the Vosges mountains and the Lech; being 
the direct neighbours of France, the French gave their 
name later to entire Germany; dating from the eleventh 
century the land of the Teutons, or Deutschland, became 

* Sources. — A guide to the chronicles relative to the history of 
Germany as far as the thirteenth century is furnished by M. Watten- 
bach: " Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter," 2 vols. 
{Sixth edition, 1893-4). Concerning these chronicles and all 
other sources, see the appendices of v. Giesebrecht, in his several 
volumes of his " Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit." We merely 
note that the history of Henry I. and Otto I. was written by the 
monk Witikind of Corvei (" Mon. Germ." iii.); that of the three 
Ottos and of Henry II. by Bishop Thietmar, of Mersebourg {Ibid.). — 
Bishop Luitprand of Cremona also wrote a " Historia Ottonis " 
(Ibid.), and the nnn, Hrotsvita, a panegyric in verse of the great 
emperor ("Mon. Germ.", volume iv.). For the first half of the 
eleventh century there are the general chronicles of Hermann of 
Eeichenau, down to 1054 ("Mon. Germ," v.), and of Lambert of 
Hersfeld, down to 1074 ("Mon. Germ.," v.). For Conrad II. see 
his life written by Wipo ("Mon. Germ." xi.). The charters of 
Conrad I., Henry I., and Otto I. v/ere published by Th. von Sickel in 
the "Mon. Germ." (1879-1884). 

Literature. — W. v. Giesebrecht. as above ; Gregorovius, " His- 
tory of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages "; Henderson, " History 
of Germany in the Middle Ages " ; Bryce, as above. 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM IN GERMANY. 269 

Germany to the French; (2) to the east of the Lech lived 
the Bavarians; then came (3) the eastern Franks, or Fran- 
conians, and (4) on the north the Saxons, who, together 
with the Hessians and Thuringians, occupied all lower 
Germany. There was not, therefore, one Germany, but 
four, until the annexation of Lorraine should add a fifth. 
Each one was ruled by hereditary sovereigns, who were 
styled " dukes by the grace of God." 

2. Saxony and Franconia. — Two especially from among 
these five nations merit attention: the Saxons and the 
Franconians. The latter, who were established in the 
Ehine and Main valleys, where were situated famous 
cities and dioceses, held the first rank. This was due less 
to their geographical situation than to their name. For 
two centuries the elections of the kings of Germany took 
place in Franconia; the kings were subject to Frankish 
law, and were crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle. Saxony was 
still half pagan, especially on the eastern frontier; here 
alone a nobility by birth had kept its place, although 
reduced in numbers by Charlemagne, while elsewhere an 
aristocracy of service, organised by the Carolingian. 
capitularies, was the only nobility, and one which tended 
to become hereditary. 

3. The Feudal System in Germany. — However, through- 
out the land, except among the Ditmarshers, of what is 
now Holstein, the condition of lands and persons was 
determined according to the feudal regime; family prop- 
erty had given way to feudal tenure; the peasant pro- 
prietor had partly disappeared, to make a place for the 
peasant holding land under censive tenure. The clergy,, 
grown rich from the gifts of the faithful, had become a 
part of the feudal hierarchy; the German Vogt, like the 
advocate in France, was entrusted with the defence of 
bishops and abbots, with the administration, in their 



270 OERMANT AND ITALY (888-1056). 

name, of criminal justice, and the performance of mili- 
tary service. But this agent was, as a rule, more power- 
ful in Germany than in France, and played a more im- 
portant part there. There was neither commerce nor 
industries; agriculture was the one source of wealth. 

4. Accession of Henry I. the Fowler, 919. The German 
State Founded. — At the death of the last Carolingian, 
Louis the Child (August 20, 911), the nobles assembled 
at Forchheim to choose his successor. Conrad the Salic, 
or Franconian, said to be grandson of Arnulf, was elected. 
His reign of six years was a constant war waged against 
the pretenders to the throne, and the Hungarians. It is 
said that on his deathbed he sent to Henry of Saxony, 
his cousin, the gold bracelets, the cloak, sword, and 
diadem of the former kings, thus transferring the suc- 
cession to him; the Frank gave the crown into the keep- 
ing of the Saxon. It is also related that Conrad's envoys, 
on bringing the insignia of royalty to Henry, found him 
snaring birds. Henry the Fowler was in truth elected 
*' king of the Saxons and Franks " in the assembly of 
Fritzlar (June, 919). Thus he was recognised by only a 
part of the Germans. After six years of war and nego- 
tiations he gained recognition from them all. The 
foundation of the German State was accomplished. 

5. Grermany Organised and Fortified. The Marches. — 
Henry I. took able measures, offensive and defensive, 
against the foreign foe. In Saxony and Thuringia he 
built many fortresses to keep in check the Slavs of the 
Havel and the Spree. He restored the marches of Schles- 
wig, opposed to the Danes, of Brandenburg against the 
Obotrites, of Meissen against the Bohemians, of Lusatia 
against the Poles. He took Lorraine from Charles the 
Simple. He founded, enlarged, or fortified many cities, 
so that he has sometimes been called the '^ Founder of 



OTTO I. WEAKENS THE DUCAL POWER. 271 

Cities." He introduced in place of the heavy Saxon 
infantry an army of light horse, made up of experienced 
cavalrymen. He could then make a firm stand against 
the Hungarians; and beat them at Eiade, or Riede, on the 
Unstrutt, near Mersburg (March 15, 933). This victory 
attracted great attention; Henry had the principal inci- 
dents of the battle painted on the walls of his palace, and 
he instituted military celebrations in order to perpetuate 
the memory of the event. 

6. Accession of Otto I., 936. Increased Prestige of 
the Crown. — Henry survived this triumph but a short 
time, dying in 936, after having divided his treasures 
among his children, and urged the nobles to elect Otto, 
the oldest of his legitimate sons. The assembly of nobles 
and bishops met at Aix, and unanimously proclaimed 
Otto, " proposed by his father, chosen of God, and made 
king by the princes." He was waited upon by national 
dukes at the state banquet held after the election. The 
duke of Lorraine, in whose territory lay Aix, assumed 
the office of grand chamberlain and master of ceremonies; 
the duke of Franconia was carver; the duke of Swabia, 
cupbearer; the duke of Bavaria, marshal. And during 
this time the imperial city was filling up with crowds of 
knights, hastening to welcome the new king. 

7. Otto I. Weakens the Ducal Power. — These festivities 
are an indication of the lustre shed over royalty by Henry 
I. Yet the dukes, eager to figure in official ceremonies, 
intended to remain independent, and it was soon neces- 
sary to combat them. Their uprisings were suppressed 
at the end of the year 941. Otto then took possession 
of the duchies. He seized for himself Franconia; he 
married his son Ludolf, who was but nine years old, to 
the only daughter of the duke of Swabia; his own daugh- 
ter, Luitgarde, to the duke of Lorraine, Conrad the Red; 



272 GERMANY AND ITALY (888-1056). 

and his son Henry was given the daughter of the duke of 
Bavaria. Two of his sisters, it has been seen, were 
married in France: Gerberge to Louis IV., Hedwig to 
Hugh the Great. Somewhat later Ludolf revolted, in 
Ms turn (953); he was subdued and his duchy was taken 
irom him. Yet he had found it so easy to secure parti- 
sans that Otto I. realised that he must placate the old 
nobility. He therefore restored the dukes, who were 
truly national and even hereditary, taking the precaution, 
it is true, to render them less formidable, by judiciously 
dividing their possessions. Thus Lorraine was separated 
into two duchies. Upper Lorraine and Lower Lorraine; 
the same was done in Saxony, Herman Billing receiving 
the title of duke over the eastern part alone, the western 
j>art, lying on the Weser, being annexed to the crown. 

8. Otto I. Brings the Hungarian Invasions to an End. — 
One last victory, still more glorious, sealed the triumph 
of the king of Germany. The Hungarians, whom the 
Tevolted princes had called in to their aid, invaded the 
Talley of the Danube and pushed on into Franconia, and 
■even as far as France (954). The following year they 
Teturned to the number of one hundred thousand, and 
iDesieged Augsburg. Otto led an army of Germans and 
Bohemians against them, met and routed them, after a 
severe fight, on the banks of the Lech (955). Hence- 
forth the course of Finnish invasion was arrested. 

9. Otto I. Organises a Government Administered by the 
Crown. — Otto was an organiser as well as a soldier. He 
^bestowed himself the ducal dignity, which had previously 
been conferred by popular election, or had been heredi- 
tary. At the same time he curtailed its prerogatives; in 
all provinces, except Franconia, he gradually instituted 
counts of the palace, or palatine counts {Pfalzgrafen), who 
watched over the royal domains and revenues, dispensed 



FEUDAL ANARCHY IN ITALY. 273 

justice in the king's name, and supervised the dukes and 
counts. But there was danger that these new agents 
might also make personal use of their power. Otto 
sought and found a check to the encroachments of this 
lay feudalism in the clergy. He distributed the most 
important ecclesiastical dignities among the members of 
his own family: the archbishopric of Cologne to his 
brother Bruno; of Mainz to his son William the Bastard; 
of Treves to one of his cousins; of Salzburg to one of his 
favourites. He reorganised the chancery, or royal chapel, 
which he found in the greatest disorder. Instead of three 
chancellors, he created but one, and that one his brother 
Bruno, whom he had placed at the head of that important 
branch of service. Learning was again honoured; first at 
court, and then throughout the land. The chancery be- 
came a centre of illustrious men, and also a school for 
administrators. The greater number of administrative 
offices were given to bishops, and to the heads of royal 
abbeys. Yet Otto saw that these priests fulfilled their 
duties to the state. Since they had fiefs, they were re- 
quired to send their vassals, at the stated times, to per- 
form military service, and often lead them; they also 
contributed towards public expenses, and assisted the king 
in all political matters. The Church was administered 
for the benefit of the State. 

10. Otto I. Seeks the Support of the Church. — Since the 
king depended upon the Church, he naturally felt the 
need of controlling its ruler. The condition of affairs 
in Italy soon took Otto to Eome. 

11. Feudal Anarchy in Italy. — Of all the members of 
the Carolingian monarchy left without a master on the 
deposition of Charles the Fat, Italy had been the most 
disturbed. Great seigniorial domains had formed there 
also. Among them were the marquisate of Ivrea and the 



274 GEBMANT AND ITALY (888-1056). 

duchy of Friuli on the north, the marquisate of Tuscany 
and the duchy of Spoleto in the centre; in the south Lom- 
bard princes were still reigning in the duchies of Capua 
and Beneventum. The duchies of Naples, Gaeta, and 
Amalfi were dependent on the Empire of the East, whose 
possessions were endangered by the presence of the Sara- 
cens in Tarentum and on the Garigliano Eiver. Else- 
where the powers of the former counts had been generally 
usurped by bishops. The seigniories which they insti- 
tuted in their episcopal towns acquired added importance 
from the fact that many of the cities, especially in Lom- 
bardy, had kept their walls, and also some of their former 
industrial and commercial activity, as well as traces of 
old municipal institutions. 

12. Feudal Anarchy in Rome. — Eome typified the curi- 
ous confusion which reigned throughout the peninsula. 
In the city, as well as in the territories under the temporal 
power of the Pope, feudalism was supreme. Counts with 
hereditary possessions were established on both banks of 
the Tiber; those of Tusculum held sway among the Latin 
hills^ the Crescentius family were on the Sabine side. 
Pontifical domains had been granted by the popes to 
bishops, and abbots, and lay advocates, to the detriment 
of Saint Peter's patrimony. Power at Rome lay in the 
hands of the nobility, or " senators," as they termed 
themselves, although the Senate no longer existed. There 
was no middle class; the workingmen's guilds (scholae, 
artes), which were still in existence, depended on the 
nobles, whom they considered their patrons. Popes were 
elected by the clergy and populace; but more often mobs, 
excited by an aristocratic faction, forced their candidate 
on the electors. 

13. Aspirants to the Crown of Italy in the Tenth 
Century. — During this time the royal crown was bitterly 



THE EMPIRE OF THE WEST. 275 

contested by Italian and Provengal claimants. Towards 
the middle of the tenth century two of their number, who 
had fought each other without either one gaining an 
advantage, Berengar II. and Lothaire, compromised, and 
agreed to reign together. Lothaire died in 950, and 
Berengar wished to marry his son to the widow, Adelheid. 
She fled to the castle of Canossa and called upon Otto I. 
for help, since Otto was the protector of Conrad, king of 
Burgundy, her brother. The king of Germany crossed 
the Alps, entered Pavia without striking a blow, and mar- 
ried, himself, the rescued Adelheid (December, 951). He 
planned to go on to Eome, but was recalled by the revolt 
of his son Ludolf. Finally he returned, ten years later, 
assumed the iron crown of the Lombards at Milan, in 
961, and took possession of Rome, which offered no resist- 
ance. 

14. The Empire of the West Revived in Favour of Otto 
I., 962. — He had promised to " aggrandise the Church 
as far as was in his power," and to restore " all territory 
of Saint Peter's which might come into his hands." He 
meant to keep his word, but on condition that the Pope 
should confer on him the imperial crown. No emperor, 
since Berengar's death in 924, had been crowned by the 
Pope. The disappearance of the title^ made illustrious 
by Charlemagne, was felt regretfully. An Italian monk, 
he may have been Lombard, expressed these regrets about 
the end of the ninth century in a writing called, " Libellus 
de imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma." Perhaps the 
thought of restoring the empire had already taken form 
in Otto's mind during his first Italian expedition; since, 
being all powerful on both sides of the x\lps, protecting 
the kingdom of Burgundy, exerting dominant influence 
throughout the kingdom of France, and having revived 
the Catholic missions among heathen peoples, he seemed 



276 GERMANY AND ITALY (888-1056). 

to have taken up the policy and regained the power of 
Charlemagne. Once in Eome, it seemed natural and im- 
perative that he should renew a title around which clus- 
tered so many memories of success and glory. And in- 
deed^ on February 2, 962, Candlemas Day, he was crowned 
with great ceremony, amidst the applause of nobles, 
clergy, and people. Some days later an act was drawn 
up, of which a contemporary and authentic copy — it may 
be the original document — is preserved in the archives of 
the Vatican. It outlined afresh the territorial extent, 
constitution, and administration of Saint Peter's patri- 
mony, and defined the relationship between the Papacy 
and the Empire. Otto confirmed the grants accorded by 
Louis the Pious in 817, adding the cities of Venice, Spo- 
leto, Benevento, and Sicily, " should God give them into 
his hands "; but he retained his rights of jurisdiction and 
sovereignty. The Pope, on his side, was to be elected as 
heretofore, but he could not be consecrated before having 
renewed to the emperor or his representatives the prom- 
ises given formerly by Pope Leo. Should there be com- 
plaints brought against the dukes or pontifical judges, 
the emperor's commissioners should notify the Holy See, 
which must then take action, otherwise the commissioners 
themselves would do so. In effect the Eoman nobility 
and the Pope swore fealty to Otto I. Eome became again 
the universal city, since she was both imperial and pon- 
tifical. 

15. Otto I. Paves the Way for the Dominion of his 
Family in Southern Italy. — The south of the peninsula 
was all that remained to be conquered to bring the whole 
of Italy under Otto's control. The duke of Capua was 
easily persuaded to pay homage to him; but when he 
besieged Bari, he was repulsed by the Greek troops of the 
garrison (967). He then opened negotiations, asking for 



OTTO IT. (973-983). 277 

his son the hand of the step-daughter of the emperor of 
ihe East, Nicephorus Phocas. He refused, but his suc- 
cessor, John Zimisces, whom a revolution had just placed 
upon the throne (970), was more complacent. He gave 
him Theophano, daughter of the Emperor Romanus, 
whom Otto 11. solemnly married in the church of St. 
Peter's at Rome at Easter, 972. It was the last important 
event of his great reign. Otto I. died somewhat suddenly, 
in the full vigour of life, May 6, 973; he was sixty-one 
years old. 

16. Characteristics of Otto the Great. Importance of 
his Reign. — This Saxon, who restored the Empire, was a 
worthy successor of Charlemagne. He established order 
in Germany, built up an enlightened and faithful admin- 
istrative body, and imposed his influence on Slavs and 
Danes. His reign was also distinguished by a literary 
revival similar to that of the eighth century. He is 
described as having a red face, a long wavy beard, firm 
and assured bearing, a powerful figure, with a hairy breast 
like a lion's, eyes that moved incessantly, opening and 
closing " as if they were watching their prey." He em- 
bodied decision, strength, and greatness. Like Charle- 
magne, he was justly termed the Great. 

17. Otto II. (973-983).— Otto II. continued his father's 
work in Italy.- Allied with his vassals, the dukes of 
Capua, Beneventum, and Salerno, he seized ISTaples 
and Tarentum, but he was surprised by an army 
of Saracens in the service of the Greeks, not far from the 
sea. He was totally defeated (July 13, 982), and es- 
caped, as if by miracle, from his conquerors; he spent 
long months in feverishly preparing a fleet at Eavenna 
and an army at Rome. He was carried off by disease, in 
the latter city, on December 7, 983. He was but twenty- 
eight years old, and left as his heir a son who was but 



278 GERMANY AND ITALY (888-1056). 

three. As a result the nobles revolted, but the head of 
the clergy, the archbishop of Mainz, vigorously upheld 
the legitimate sovereign and established him on the 
throne. The diet of Quedlinburg, which was assembled 
at Easter, 985, represented a pacified Germany. The 
revolution of 987, which transferred the crown of France 
to Hugh Capet, secured peace on the western frontier, 
by uniting, more closely than in the past, Lorraine to 
Germany. 

18. Otto III. (983-1002). His Conception of the Em- 
pire. — From that time peace was established. Guided by 
his mother and grandmother, a Greek and an Italian, 
both pious, intelligent, and learned, the young prince was 
given a brilliant education. He learned Greek, Latin, and 
German. In the society of monks and bishops, he ac- 
quired from them habits of devotion and mysticism. His 
mother imbued him with her ideas of imperial dignity. 
Theophano, the Byzantine princess, did not believe that 
the Empire ended with the death of her husband. She 
bore proudly the title of Imperatrix augusta, and governed 
Italy as Irene and Theodora had formerly reigned in 
Byzantium. Otto III. longed to establish a monarchy 
whose capital should be Rome, and which should domi- 
nate the West. As soon as he was of age (996), his per- 
sonal attention was given to Rome, yet without neglect- 
ing German affairs, nor breaking off his struggles against 
the Slavs and his efforts for their conversion. 

19. Deplorable Condition of the Papacy in the Tenth 
Century. — There is no period in papal history more de- 
plorable than that dating from the death of John VIII. 
(882) to the accession of Gregory VII. (1073). The 
papacy suffered in the general decline of civilisation. At 
no other time were there more popes condemned because 
of their evil lives, nor a greater number who died a 



REIQN OF GRE8GENTIU8 AT ROME. 279 

(violent death. It is sufficient to recall Formosus, whose 
body was dragged from the tomb, brought before judges, 
condemned and thrown into the Tiber (897); Stephen, 
whose throat was cut; John X., who was strangled in 
prison; John XII., who died amidst debauchery; Boniface 
VII., who had two popes, his rivals, killed, and was in 
turn massacred, drawn through the streets, and cast be- 
fore the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius of the 
Lateran (985). 

20. Reign of Crescentius at Rome. A German Em- 
peror and Pope (996). — After this last scandal the tempo- 
ral power of the city was held by a Eoman of noble 
family, John Crescentius, who ruled for more than ten 
years with the title of patrician. Otto III. then inter- 
fered. His first act was to choose as successor to John 
XV., who had just died, his own cousin Bruno, who 
assumed the name of Gregory V. (May 3, 996). To the 
men of that time the nomination seemed incredible. 
Since Zachary, who was of Syrian origin, and during two 
centuries and a half, there had been, in fact, but two 
popes out of the forty-seven who were not born in Rome 
or in the Papal States. After Gregory V., the Papacy 
broke through the narrow bonds of the city and Roman 
aristocracy; all nations might concur in giving the sover- 
eign pontiff to the Church, as formerly the provinces 
would give an emperor to Rome. Thus interpreted, the 
Papacy answered much better the universal idea of 
Catholicism. The first act of the new Pope was to crown 
Otto III. emperor (May 21). It was a great triumph for 
Germany to have as rulers in the West a German em- 
peror and a German pope. Crescentius dared to fortify 
himself in the old mausoleum of Hadrian, converted into 
the fortress of Saint Angelo; he was taken, hanged, and 
suspended by his feet, with twelve of his companions, on 



280 GEBMANT AND ITALY (888-1056). 

the summit of a hill near the city, formerly called Mons 
gaudii, to-day Monte Mario (998). 

21. Otto III. and Sylvester II. The Fictitious Donation 
of Constantine. — Soon after Gregory V. died Otto selected 
Gerbert, the first of the French popes, as his successor. 
Gerbert, it will be remembered, had always been attached 
to his family. After the deposition of Arnulf, the enemy 
of Hugh Capet, he had been elected archbishop of Eheims, 
but he voluntarily relinquished this French ofl&ce after 
the rendering of a judgment against him by a German 
council. From the end of 997 he had been living at the 
court of Otto III.; the archbishopric of Ravenna had but 
just been given him, one of the first in Italy, when he was 
made Pope. He took the name of Sylvester II., which 
alone implied the ideas of the new pontiff. Sylvester I. 
(314-335), whose history is mostly legendary, was Pope 
at the time Christianity became one of the official relig- 
ions of the Roman Empire. It was to him that the 
famous donation of Constantine was said to have been 
made. That Otto III. should be a second Constantine, 
as gracious as the first to the Church, was the thought of 
Sylvester II. The memories of imperial Rome appealed 
to the visionary mind of Otto III.; yet he meant to reign 
in Rome, hence he must lower the Pope to the simple 
rank of patriarch. The pretensions of the two powers 
were irreconcilable; however. Otto and Sylvester were 
friends, and remained so. 

22. Otto All Powerful at Rome. His Greatness and 
Illusions. — Otto III. strove to conceal his control under 
the many favours which he showered upon the Holy See. 
In Rome, his true capital, he built himself a palace on 
the Aventine. He established there the old imperial 
court, with the court of the sacred palace, and the old 
administration with its patrician, prefect of the city, and 



HENRY II. REFORMS THE CHURCH. 281 

palatine judges. He spoke in the name of the Senate 
and the Koman people. He decorated himself with the 
titles of ItaUcus, Saxonicus, Romanus, to which was added 
in assumed humility servus apostolorum, and servus J. 
Christi. His militar}- expeditions were varied by periads 
of rest, which he spent in pilgrimages to the most 
revered shrines of Italy. But in the midst of these illu- 
sions of devotion and power, he lost his grasp on the 
realities of life, and the force of his government was 
weakened abroad. The Danes and Slavs began fresh 
invasions; the Hungarians organised a kingdom and 
ceased to pay tribute; France won independence under the 
Capetians; Italy, even, was disturbed — by the claims of 
the Lombard, Arduin, to the crown. Much wretchedness 
was, therefore, hidden under the brilliant appearance of 
a close union of Empire and Papacy. The death of Otto- 
(January 23, 1002), which was almost contemporaneous 
with that of Sylvester II. (May 12, 1003), almost opened 
the whole question once more. 

23. Henry II., the Saint, 1002-1024.— Otto died child- 
less at the age of twenty-two. His cousin Henry took 
possession of the insignia of royalty, but he too had ta 
spend four years in wars against the German feudal lords 
in order to retain the power. However, he was worthy 
of it. In naming him Saint, the chroniclers lead one to- 
believe that he sacrificed his duties as sovereign to his 
religious predilections. This was not so. He renounced 
the illusions of Otto III., and loved Germany more than 
the Empire. 

24. Henry II. Reforms the Church for the Benefit of 
the State. — More completely and more resolutely than any 
of his predecessors did Henry 11. turn for aid to the 
episcopacy; yet he persisted in restraining its independ- 
ence. He withdrew from some churches the right of 



282 OEBMANY AND ITALY (888-1056). 

election which the Ottos had granted them. He chose as 
bishops the most capable clerks of his chancery; yet he 
transplanted them to other dioceses, where they were 
strangers by birth and education. There they were con- 
strained to serve the state before everything else. Despite 
their electoral privileges, he was not afraid to put the 
royal abbeys in charge of abbots whose spirit of order 
and reform was known to him. Frequently monks left 
their houses in a body, as a protest against the violation 
of their privileges. The king seized this opportunity to 
diminish the amount of property whose revenues were 
applied to their support, and to place a larger amount at 
the disposition of the abbot; the latter would take advan- 
tage of this to create new fiefs, increase the number of 
vassals from whom military service might be required for 
the abbey, and consequently for the king. This policy was 
followed by Henry's successors, and forty years after his 
death the royal abbeys were considered as royal domains. 
25. Henry II. Enlarges the Privileges of the Nobility, 
yet Restrains It. — At the same time Henry II. increased 
the privileges of the nobility. First he recognised im- 
plicitly the heredity of benefices; then he called the great 
seigniors to his council. He took no serious resolution 
without consulting them. Gradually the court assemblies 
of the king (Hoftage) became political reunions or diets 
(Reichstage). The change did not then become danger- 
ous to royal prerogatives, since Henry, with his diplomatic 
ability and wonderful eloquence, could almost always carry 
his point; yet it was heavy with consequences for the 
future. On the other hand, he was able to exact from the 
nobles strict observance of the public peace. Private 
wars were severely punished. This was the beginning 
of a special legislation for Germany, which eventually 
increased in importance. 



CONRAD IL, 1024-1039. 283 

26. Henry II. in Italy. — After this was accomplished 
Henry wished for the title of emperor. Leading a small 
army, whose expenses were almost entirely defrayed by 
the bishops, he entered Lombardy, celebrated Christmas 
at Pavia (1013), in the midst of a vast concourse of 
bishops and abbots, and was crowned at Kome by Bene- 
dict VIII. (February 14, 1014). Seven years later the 
Pope calling him against the Greeks, who had just recov- 
ered the whole of Apulia, he took Troja, Capua, and 
Salerno; Naples and Amalfi acknowledged his sovereignty; 
but fresh difficulties recalled him to Germany. His 
efforts to conquer Poland and the kingdom of Burgundy 
were unsuccessful. He died when he had just come to 
an agreement with the king of France, Robert the Pious, 
in the conferences at Ivoy on the River Chiers. They had 
planned to work together towards the reform of the 
Church. He was the last of the house of Saxony, which 
gave such glory to Germany, and which almost accom- 
plished the restoration, in all its political and moral 
greatness, of Charlemagne's Empire (1024). 

27. Conrad II., 1024-1039.— The course of affairs was 
in no wise changed by this death and the accession of 
Conrad of Franconia, who was elected at the diet of 
Gamba (September 8, 1024). He had to begin again the 
labour of Sisyphus of his predecessors, in establishing 
order, which was disturbed at the opening of each new 
reign. It is sufficient to note that he annexed the king- 
dom of Burgundy to the Germanic crown, and granted 
liberties to the vavasours, — that is to say, the lesser 
Italian nobility, — in the Constitution of Pavia, promul- 
gated in 1037. After an energetic and successful reign 
of fifteen years he passed over to his son Henry III., the 
Black, a considerable power, which reached its highest 
point under this prince. 



284 GERMANY AND ITALY (888-1056). 

28. Alliances of Henry III. His Hegemony in Europe. 
^ — Henry III. was twenty-two on his accession, in 1033, 
which was uncontested. He was educated in letters and 
law; he had fought honourably against the Bohemians, 
and was piously ambitious, as had been the Ottos. Strong 
through the unanimity of his reception, he wished his 
supremacy to be acknowledged by all princes and all the 
neighbouring peoples. In Poland, Bohemia, and Hun- 
gary he was successful; his western frontier was assured 
by his marriage with Agnes of Poitou, daughter of Wil- 
liam the Great, duke of Aquitaine, and related to the last 
national du.kes of Burgundy and Italy. He joined in the 
efforts made, on various sides, towards ecclesiastical re- 
form, and wished to take the direction of it into his own 
hands, so as to establish his hegemony in Europe. 

29. Henry HI. Reforms and Controls the Papacy. — His 
first move was towards the reform of the Papacy, which 
had aroused scandal' by a fresh schism. A council, 
assembled at Lutri, deposed the three claimants to the 
tiara, and accepted the candidate of Henry III., bishop 
of Bamberg, who was Clement II. (Christmas, 1046). 
Clement II. gave his sovereign the imperial crown, who 
assumed also the title of patrician. When the German 
Pope died (October 9, 1047) Henry replaced him, without 
election or advice, by the bishop of Brixen, Damasus II., 
who reigned a few days only; then followed an Alsatian, 
bishop of Toul, Leo IX., 1048-1054, and finally the 
bishop of Eichstadt, Victor II., (1054-1057). Never had 
the Church been so completely subservient to the state. 
Unhappily for his work, Henry III. died too soon, when 
he was thirty-nine years old. 

30. Zenith of Imperial Power. — The imperial power, re- 
stored by the Ottos, reached its highest point during the 
Middle Ages at this date. Until then it had steadily in- 



ZENITH OF IMPERIAL POWER. 285 

creased. It had built up an, efficient political organisa- 
tion; it had made of Germany a nation. In this people, 
whose path across civilisation had been marked by ruins, 
it had developed a love of learning and arts. But it was 
now reaching a turning point. Henry III. left one child 
of six years. Therefore all the elements of civil discord 
had time to develop. The most momentous fact is that 
the Church profited by them to shake off the control in 
which she had been held by the state until that time, and 
to contest with it the possession of the empire of the 
world. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

EMPEEOE AND POPE CHUECH EEFOEM — GEEGOEY VII.* 

1. Necessity of Church Reform. Simony and the Mar- 
riage of Priests. — There was immediate and urgent neces- 
sity for reform in the Church during the middle of the 
eleventh century. It was corrupted b}^ two evils: simony 
or traffic in holy things ;f and the marriage of priests. 
Although marriage had been condemned repeatedly, not 
only that of bishops and priests, but also of deacons, 
there was not a single Catholic state in which this rule 
was rigidly observed. The evil was more extended in 
Lombardy than elsewhere. Priests lived there publicly 

* Sources. — Aside from the various monastic annals, the principal 
sources for this period are the universal chronicles of Bernold 
("Mon. Germ.," v.), and Berthold (Ibid.), of Ekkehard of Urach 
<"Mon. Germ.." vi.). of Sigebert of Gembloux (I6^^.), the " His- 
toria de Vita Henrici," iv. ("Mon. Germ.," xii.), the "Carmen de 
bello Saxonico" (edited Holder-Egger, 1880); the lamentations of 
Bonitho of Sutri over the misfortunes of the Church (edited 
Jaffe: ** Mon. Gregoriana "), and the apology of Henry IV., by Benzo 
of Alba ("Mon. Germ.," xi.). The life of Gregory VII. will be 
found in the collection of the Bollandists, in volume vi. of May. 
The acts and letters of Gregory VII. were published by Jaffe in his 
" Monumenta Gregoriana." See also the "Regesta Pontificum 
Romanorum," as before. The sources relative to the quarrel over 
investitures were published in " Monumenta Germanise." 

Literature. — W. v. Giesebrecht, as above ; Del arc, " Saint 
Oregoire VII. et la Reforme de I'Eglise " ; Sackur, *' Die Clunia- 
censer in ihrer kirchliclien und allgemeingeschichtlichen Wirk- 
samkeit." 

f The origin of the word simony is found in the incident re- 
corded in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter viii., verses 9-26. 

286 



CLUNY. 287 

iwith their wives, transmitted benefices to their children, 
and provided dowries for their daughters out of the 
property of the Church. These lucrative marriages 
were sought by lay nobles, since they united in a double 
bond of family and political interest the high clergy 
and nobility. Simony was widespread, especially in 
France, where the clergy, less involved in services of 
the state, was also less closely watched. Protests 
against these loose habits were not lacking. Among 
the most eloquent men of those who inveighed against 
this evil was Peter Damiani of Eavenna, cardinal-bishop 
of Ostia. He wrote and dedicated to Pope Leo IX. a 
virulent treatise called: " The Book of Gomorrah." He 
exhorted the Church to take action against herself. " The 
reform must come from Eome," he said. Yet reform did 
not come from Rome at first; it began in Cluny. 

2. Cluny. Its Ideas of Reform. — The abbey of Cluny, 
in French Burgundy, was founded in 910; it adopted in 
all its early severity the Benedictine rule, which had been 
revived for the third time. It was dominated by a novel 
spirit of discipline and liierarchical order; the monas- 
teries which it started and those which adopted its rule 
were closely united under, and blindly followed, the su- 
preme authority of the abbot. Soon the " black monks," 
as they were called, because of their costume, reached the 
point at which they wished to introduce a similar hier- 
archy in the secular clergy; all churches were to be sub- 
ject to the bishop of Rome, as all Cluniac abbeys recog- 
nised the supremacy of the abbot of Cluny. The False 
Decretals proved valuable documents to them in carrying 
out their designs. Our monks' conception of the world 
even was peculiar. They considered it the outcome of two 
principles: one superior, which was the ecclesiastical 
power; the other inferior, represented by the secular 



288 EMPEROR AND POPE. 

power. The latter came from Nimrod, the former from 
Christ. The Church, therefore, daughter of the spirit of 
light, should guide and control the world. The greatest 
Pope of the Middle Ages, Gregory VII., was inspired by 
these doctrines. 

3. Hildebrand. His Youth. — His name was Hilde- 
brand. He was born about the year 1020 in the territory 
of the small Tuscan town of Soana, now depopulated by 
marsh fevers. His father was neither a poor shepherd, 
as has been said, nor a carpenter at Eome; he was a peas- 
ant of free condition, who lived at Soana on his own 
property. One of Hildebrand's maternal uncles was ab- 
l)ot of a rich monastery. Saint Mary on the Aventine, 
where the teachings of Cluny were in favour; there he was 
brought up. In 1045 — he was then twenty -five — ^he be- 
came chaplain to Gregory VI. Hildebrand forsook regret- 
fully the peaceful retreat which left such deep impressions 
on his mind and heart; born for the world and action, he 
felt ever a lively pleasure in the cloistered life. Later, as 
cardinal and Pope, he remained the monk, longing for 
silence, living in contemplation of the future, which he 
believed he foresaw, and which he loved to predict. 
Physically, he was a puny man, with a weak voice, yet he 
had a fiery soul and indomitable energy, 

4. Hildebrand in Germany and at Cluny. — As chaplain 
of Gregory VI. he was faithful to him, even after the 
latter had been deposed at the council of Sutri (1046). 
He followed him into exile, to Worms, Speyer, Cologne, 
Aix-la-Chapelle; yet he was graciously received by Henry 
III. and his queen, whose kindness he never forgot. The 
imperial ideas which he assimilated while with them were 
added to those gained at Cluny, to build up in his mind 
the conception of a universal and theocratic monarchy. 
On Gregory's death he retreated to Cluny, but the abbot 



DECREE OF THE LATER AN. 289 

gave him as a companion to the new Pope, Leo IX., and 
he returned to Italy with him (1049). Made subdeacon 
and cardinal of the Eoman church, entrusted with the 
direction of municipal affairs and the finances of the 
Holy See, he soon held the first place after the sovereign 
pontiff. His political apprenticeship was ended, and his 
active career begun. Shortly after he was sent as legate 
to France. He there violently opposed simony. Three 
years later he was sent to Germany to obtain the consent 
of Empress Agnes to the hurried election of Stephen IX. 
(1057). Complete disorder reigned there, and he re- 
turned convinced that Church reform could not be ac- 
complished by the Empire, on which he had counted up 
to that time. Under Nicholas II., whom he had had 
elected almost forcibly in 1058, he formulated two acts 
which had the most serious consequences. 

5. Decree of the Lateran on the Election of Popes, 1059. 
The Church Freed from the State. — At first he assembled 
a council at the Lateran (1059). There it was decreed 
that henceforth the right of electing the sovereign pontiff 
should belong exclusively to the cardinals; that is to say, 
>/to those who were either bishops in Roman territory, or 
priests and bishops in the parishes of Rome; the people 
and clergy should only give their consent. As for the 
emperor, certain ambiguous phrases accorded him a 
vague, but illusive, right of confirmation; and lastly the 
Pope was to be chosen in preference from the Roman 
Church/ Although the famous decree of 1059 does not 
seem to have been dictated by a feeling of animosity to- 
wards the emperor, it opposed the college of cardinals to 
the aristocratic "senate"; it transferred to the former 
the rights hitherto exercised by the patrician body, and 
as this body was a part of the Empire, by the emperor. 
It freed the Church, without saying so, and paved the 



290 EMPEROR AND POPE. 

way for the war between sacerdotalism and imperialism. 
The work of the council of the Lateran did not end here. 
It renewed the judgments which so many times already 
had been passed on married priests. But laws are not 
obeyed unless they are in harmony with habits and cus- 
toms. Now, just at this time a favourable reaction had 
set in in certain countries towards the ideas of the 
Church, especially in Lombardy. The signal was given 
at Milan. The ragged populace, the " Pataria/' as it was 
called, rose up against the simoniacal and married priests. 
Social and political ideas inspired the movement as well 
as religious ones: the lower class, almost ignored by 
history for several centuries, raised its head to shake ofE 
the yoke of its masters, bishops and vavasours, hated for 
the double reason that they were allies, and that they 
alone possessed lands and honours and control. 

The second service which Hildebrand rendered the 
Papacy was to obtain for it the support of the Normans. 

6. Establishment of the Normans in Southern Italy. — 
At the beginning of the eleventh century mercenaries 
from Normandy had attained great renown for bravery, 
cunning, and cruelty in the service of Lombard dukes. 
Rainulf, one of their chiefs, was successful in obtaining 
the grant of a fief in a part of fertile Campania; it was 
raised to a county by Conrad II., with Aversa for capital. 
Other Normans, led by William of the Iron Arm and his 
brothers Drogo, Humphrey, Eobert Guiscard, and Roger, 
settled in Apulia. They were soon strong enough to 
contest the important city of Benevento with Leo IX., 
who had just seized it. Three thousand of their number 
totally defeated the small pontifical army near the mouth 
of the Fortore, on the ruins of the ancient Teanum 
Apulum, where the Greeks had built a fortress simply 
called the City, Civitella. The Pope was made prisoner;^ 



ACCESSION OF GREGORY VIL, 1073. 291 

but bought his liberty with the town of Benevento (July 
10, 1053). He died soon after, not having pardoned 
them his defeat. 

7. The Normans, Allies of the Holy See. — With the ad- 
vice of Hildebrand, Nicolas II. pursued a different course. 
A treaty, the work of a council held at Melfi, gave them 
complete absolution for their offences towards the Holy 
See; Robert Guiscard was granted the title of duke of 
Apulia and Calabria, under the suzerainty of the Pope; 
Robert, Count of Aversa, was made prince and invested 
with the duchy of Capua. The duke of Apulia and the 
prince of Capua swore fealty to the Pope, and promised 
not only to furnish him troops against his enemies, but 
an annual payment of twelve denarii of Pavia for every 
plough-team. The reform party gained a triple victory. 
At one time its progress had been threatened by the dis- 
orders following on the death of Nicolas II. (June 27, 
1061); its cause was now assured by the accession of Hilde- 
brand to the pontifical throne. 

8. Accession of Gregory VII., 1073. His Views.— The 
election of Gregory YIL was not in accord with the decree 
of 1059. He was chosen by popular vote, and was almost 
compelled by force to assume the tiara, the cardinals 
merely ratifying the choice of the people (April 22, 1073). 
On Saint Peter's throne he remained what he had been in 
the monk's gown or the cardinal's robe. His purpose was 
to complete the reform begun, place the Church under his 
sovereign authority and above all other powers of the 
.world. A Roman by education, if not by birth, his dream 
was to build up a universal monarchy with Rome as its 
capital and the Pope as its ruler. He wrote with perfect 
sincerity: "Human pride invented the power of kings, 
divine pity established that of bishops." His political 
maxims were given out at his own dictation: "The Pope 



2P2 EMPEROR AND POPE. 

is the only man whose feet should be kissed by all peoples; 
he is empowered to depose emperors; if he is elected ac- 
cording to the canons, he is a saint by virtue of the merits 
of Saint Peter." He looked upon his office as that of 
supreme judge of the earth, and he believed himself the 
vehicle of absolute truth. " The Eoman Church has 
never erred, and Holy Writ declares that it will never 
err "; resistance to him meant resistance to God, even, 
and involved the punishments inflicted by divine justice. 
He was prodigal of the weapon of excommunication, 
which banishes the culprit from participation in the sacra- 
ments, and of anathema, which cuts him off from the com- 
munity of the faithful. When it was necessary he did 
not hesitate to resort to force. " Cursed be the man," 
said he one day, " who refrains from dipping his sword in 
blood! " His conception of the duties of his office, and 
not ambition for absolute power, dictated the course of 
his actions; and his were the views, of the best theologians 
of his time. 

9. Grovernment of the Church. The Legates. — To reign 
is to act; Gregory YII. was preeminently a man of action. 
He wished to know all and do all. He surrounded him- 
self with advisers, gathering together each year, at Lent 
and often towards All Saints Day, archbishops and 
bishops, who were often called from a distance and who 
were not allowed to delay or excuse themselves from an- 
swering his summons. When he had resolved upon any 
course his orders were given imperiously, and his agents 
were required to inform him immediately and accurately 
as to the manner in which they had been carried out. 
From time to time legates had been employed by his 
predecessors, and they had been given full authority to 
conclude the matters entrusted to them; Gregory VII. 
used them effectively in carrying out his policy. They; 



REFORM OF THE CLERGY. 293 

iwere not only high dignitaries of the Church, but some- 
times humble deacons, who had to be obeyed. He in- 
spired them with his enthusiasm, but knew also how to 
restrain their excessive zeal. In order to impose his uni- 
versal authority, these legates did not hesitate to infringe 
on the rights of individual churches, to interfere in epis- 
copal elections, and suspend or depose bishops. They 
were the representatives of the Holy See at foreign 
courts: with Philip I. of France, William I. of England, 
for whom Gregory YII. always felt peculiar affection, of 
Henry IV. of Germany, the kings of Spain, Hungary, 
Denmark, even the grand-duke of Russia. They de- 
manded everywhere, and often obtained, Peter's pence. 
Like power had never been wielded by a Pope; he watched 
over the interests of all Christianity, and, ignoring the 
schism which separated the Greek and Latin Churches, 
lie thought at one time of sending a large Christian army 
to defend Constantinople against the Seljuk Turks. 

10. Eeform of the Clergy. — But though he wished to 
reign, it was in the interests of a transformed, moral, and 
softened Christian world. Priests were expected to set 
an example, and he began his reform with them. A 
first council assembled at the Lateran (March 9, 1074) 
forbade priests, deacons, and all clerks to " take wives or 
dwell with women "; he condemned to " the same punish- 
ment as Simon the Magician," any person who might have 
bought or sold an office whatsoever — namel}'', of bishop, 
priest, deacon, or provost, etc. The following year these 
prohibitions were formally renewed; he condemned five 
counsellors of the king of German}^, convicted of simony; 
suspended the archbishops of Bremen, the bishops of 
Speyer and Strasburg, two Lombard bishops, and deposed 
the bishop of Florence. Moreover, the right to appoint 
to bishoprics was denied kings, and they were advised to 



294 EMPEBOR AND POPE, 

*' allow all capable persons to enter freely the sacred min- 
istry/^ Wishing liberty for the Church, that she might 
direct the state, was to declare war on royalty. Henry 
IV., victorious on the shores of the Unstrutt (June 8, 
1075) over the German feudal lords, had just completed 
the restoration of royal authority. Fate willed that the 
conflict should burst forth between the king and Pope at 
the precise moment when these two powers, having their 
forces well in hand, and carried away by the enthusiasm 
of first success, were the most incapable of making con- 
cessions. 

11. Quarrel of Investitures. Henry IV. and Gregory 
VH. — Hetiry IV., the conqueror of feudalism, had in 
fact wished to be master of his Church; he dispensed 
ecclesiastical dignities as he saw fit, choosing, however, 
his candidates worthily; according to custom, he granted 
them investiture in their office, with crosier and ring. 
Thus he violated the decree of Gregory VII., yet how 
could he govern, if he were not master of his function- 
aries? Gregory VII. protested. Should the son of 
Henry III. bend the neck at the threats of a priest, in 
whom he could only recognise a rebellious subject? x\t 
a council of German bishops convoked at Worms (January 
24, 1076), a violent accusation was brought against the 
Pope, who was charged with an evil life and baneful ambi- 
tion; Gregory VII. was then deposed, and royal agents 
were sent to Eome to persuade the clergy and the people 
to choose his successor. 

12. Excommunication of Henry IV., 1076. — Gregory 
VII. replied by opening in the Lateran (February 24) a 
council of French and Italian bishops. The insulting 
letters in which Henry IV. announced to the Romans and 
the Pope the decision at Worms were publicly read; then 
lie pronounced the anathema against his adversaries, for- 



HENRY IV. AT CANOSSA, 1077. 295 

bade Henry IV. "to govern the German kingdom and 
Italy/' and released all Christians from their oath of 
allegiance to him. The sentence, an nnheard-of one until 
then, made a profound impression, not only in France, 
Burgundy, and Italy, but even in Germany, where some 
abbots and priests, won over to the projects of reform, 
were valuable papal auxiliaries. What was still more 
serious was that the political enemies of Henry IV. took 
heart immediately. An assembly of prelates and princes 
met at Tribur, an ill-omened spot, declared that the 
Pope was right in excommunicating the king, and that 
the latter should no longer reign (October 16). Aban- 
doned by the greater number of his counsellors and par- 
tisans, repulsed by the Pope, who refused to receive him, 
even as a penitent, at Rome, threatened with another 
council to be convoked at Augsburg under Gregory VII., 
the wretched prince lost courage, and departed secretly 
from Speyer, in the dead of winter, to go and prostrate 
himself at the feet of his sovereign pontiff. 

13. Henry IV. at Canossa, 1077. — Gregory VII. was 
then living at Canossa, in a fortress belonging to the 
Countess Matilda, a devoted adherent of the Holy See. 
He was not safe in Lombardy, where his decrees against 
simony and priestly marriage had aroused such furious 
opposition; but Henry was too eager to obtain absolution 
to make capital out of this discontent. He reached the 
impregnable fortress almost alone; the doors remained 
closed. " During three days," wrote the Pope, " he waited 
there,, despoiled of all the attributes of royalty, barefooted, 
in a woollen garment, tearfully imploring the aid and con- 
solation of apostolic pity." At last the- Pope, yielding 
to the prayers of his household, admitted the king to his 
presence. It was a spectacle to move the souls of the 
multitude, this proud successor of the Ottos, the king full 



296 EMPEROR AND POPE. 

of strength and youth, " of form and beauty suited to aii 
emperor," prostrate at the feet of the frail man, nervous 
and slender, who was so exalted above him by his title of 
prince of the apostles and vicar of Saint Peter. Moved ta 
tears, Gregory YII. in his turn lifted him, gave him ab- 
solution, and the Idss of peace (January 28, 1077), yet the 
menace of excommunication still hung over his head. 
The struggle was therefore not ended; moreover, the two 
adversaries could not come to an agreement, for they were 
moved by irreconcilable principles, and their partisans, 
were too eager in the fight not to urge them to ex- 
tremes. 

14. Henry IV. Contests his Throne with Other Claim- 
ants. He Creates an Antipope. — Henry IV. reassumed 
the royal insignia on his return to Germany. His ene- 
mies immediately assembled in a diet at Forchheim in the 
presence of two pontifical legates, pronounced his deposi- 
tion, and gave the succession to his brother-in-law, Eudolf 
of Eheinfelden, duke of Swabia and governor of Bur- 
gundy (March, 1078). A furious civil war then burst 
forth. Desperate battles were fought with no result. 
Henry, deposed again (March, 1080), caused Gregory YII. 
to be proclaimed in a council at Brixen (May), ^' false 
priest, despoiler of churches, and necromancer "; then 
Guibert, archbishop of Eavenna, was proclaimed Pope, 
and took the name of Clement III. Defeated near 
Grona, between the Elster and the Saale, in a furious 
battle in which at least his adversary was killed (October 
15), Henry lY. moved on into Italy, took, at Milan, the 
iron crown, and marched with his Pope on to Eome, there 
to assume the imperial crown. 

15. Henry IV. at Rome. Sacking of the City by Ger- 
mans and Normans, 1084. — The situation was critical for 
Gregory YII. In the south he was at enmity with the 



DEATH OF HENRY IV., 1106. 297" 

Kormans and their leader, Robert Guiscard; the Tuscan 
cities of the north, governed by his ally, Countess Matilda, 
revolted against their sovereign, and received the king of 
Germany, who showered privileges upon them. Finally 
Henry IV. entered Eome after a long struggle, enthroned 
his Pope, who, in turn, crowned him emperor (March 31, 
1084). He occupied the two extremities of the city,. 
Saint Peter, and the Lateran; Gregory VII. kept his foot- 
hold in the castle of Saint Angelo. Fierce engagements 
took place between the two parties in the narrow winding 
streets; the Germans took the capitol by assault. The 
Pope would have been compelled to yield, if Robert Guis- 
card, whose success in southern Italy would have been en- 
dangered by the emperor's triumph, had not hastily left 
the siege of Durazzo and flown to his assistance. The 
Germans dared not await his coming, and he entered the 
city and delivered the Pope (May 28). However, his fol- 
lowers, beginning to pillage the city, the Romans resisted. 
The imperial party sought to turn this diversion to their 
own profit, and again took up arms; but the Normans 
were the stronger. They overpowered their enemies, 
and wreaked frightful vengeance upon them; many of the 
inhabitants were massacred, others put in prison; and 
women and children were sold into slavery. 

16. Death of Gregory VII., 1085.— Gregory VII. could 
not remain in a city whose ruin might be ascribed to his 
policy and the violence of his partisans. He followed 
Robert Guiscard to his states, and soon died at Salerno 
(May 25, 1085). His last words, "I have loved justice 
and hated iniquity, therefore, I die in exile," reveal the 
bitterness of a soul disappointed in its hopes, but firm in 
its convictions. 

17. Death of Henry IV., 1106. Significance of his 
Struggle with the Church.— After a few years of quiet the 



^98 EMPEROR AND POPE. 

struggle began again with Urban II., a French Pope, who 
had been prior of Cluny; then with Pascal 11. These 
popes, not content with raising up new claimants against 
Henry IV., incited his sons to rebellion. The old em- 
peror died at last of privation and sorrow at Liege (Au- 
gust 7, 1106). He was persecuted beyond the tomb, for 
it was not until 1111 that his son, Henry V., could ob- 
tain an authorisation to bury him in holy ground. This 
was the wretched ending of a reign that was not deficient 
in greatness. Henry survived Gregory VII. twenty years, 
^nd through his obstinate resistance prevented the 
Church from obtaining a complete victory. The empire 
"had been conquered in his person, yet it was still stand- 
ing, and by that fact alone it made impossible the estab- 
lishment of the theocratic despotism dreamed of by 
Gregory VII. Henry had struggled all his life to defend 
Toyal authority, which was first imperilled by the nobles, 
then by the Church, and lastly by his own sons; and it 
transpired that he had actually, without wishing it, fought 
for civil liberty. On one hand the popes had turned to 
the municipal democracies of Italy to uphold them against 
"the high clergy and nobility; in the same way the emperor 
called upon the bourgeoisie of the cities to help him. 
Popular liberty could not but be benefited in this mortal 
-struggle between two powers, both of which tended to- 
iv^ards absolute monarchy. 

18. End of the Quarrel of Investitures. The Concordat 
-of Worms, 1122. — Henry V. was deceptive, greedy, heart- 
less towards his enemies, and pitiless to the poor. Dur- 
ing his father's life he had been subservient to priests and 
<3omplacent with princes; once king, he wished supreme 
power, as his predecessors had done, and was fatally drawn 
on into wars with German feudal lords and the Papacy. 
In 1110 he invaded Italy; pitilessly razed Arezzo, whicK 



END OF THE QUABREL OF INVESTITURES. 299 

had threatened resistance; and marched on to Rome, witli 
fair words on his lips and hatred of the papal power in 
his heart. 

Pope Pascal II. suggested a radical means of end- 
ing the quarrel. He offered to renounce all feudal 
possessions, duchies, counties, cities, and castles that were 
held by priests in feudal tenure; the right of investiture, 
which the sovereign assumed, would be eliminated in that 
way, and the Church, thus relieved, would cease to be an 
enemy of the state. The plan was feasible in Italy, 
where the quarrel of investitures tended merely to weaken 
the power of the bishops for the benefit of the cities; it 
was impracticable in Germany, whose ecclesiastical prin- 
cipalities were the firmest supporters of the empire. Be- 
sides this, the clergy was, throughout, hostile to a plan 
that would have destroyed its temporal power. The con- 
flict went on more bitterly than ever. The king gained 
but one advantage, — an illusive one, moreover, — that of 
being crowned at Rome (1111). He was finally obliged 
to yield. To disarm his enemies, he gave up their con- 
fiscated possessions, and promised to submit to the diet 
all important political questions; then he began negotia- 
tions with the Pope. After long discussions an agree- 
ment or " Concordat " was finally concluded at Worms on. 
an equitable basis for both parties. The emperor yielded 
all right of investiture by crosier and ring, which was 
henceforth reserved for the Pope or bishop who might 
have to consecrate the newly elected priest. All churches 
in the empire were granted freedom of canonical elections 
and episcopal consecration. The Pope, on his side, ac- 
knowledged in Henry the right to be present at the elec- 
tion of bishops and abbots of the empire, yet he might not 
.use simony or violence; " the candidate shall receive from 
him, with the sceptre, regal rights and shall fulfil exactly 



mo EMPEROR AND POPE. 

-all his duties as vassal" (September 23, 1122). The fol- 
lowing year a general council held at Eom-e announced 
^gain all the principles of reform, which was henceforth 
triumphant. The quarrel of investitures ended in an 
urgent call to the truce of God and the crusades. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

THE GUELFS AND HOHENSTAUFEN — ALEXANDER III. AND 
FEEDEKICK I.^ BARBAROSSA.* 

1. The Guelfs. — Henry V. having died childless (May 
23, 1125), the ecclesiastical and lay princes assembled at 
Mainz in the presence of two papal legates. Three fami- 
lies naturally were suggested to the electors: the Guelfs, 
Hohenstaufen, and Saxon. The Guelfs were already 
powerful in Germany at the end of the Carolingian period; 
their lands were situated in the Allgau, to the north of 
Lake Constance, in the central valleys of the Iller and 
Lech. Henry IV. had bestowed the title of hereditary 
duke of Bavaria on a Guelf; the two sons of the latter, 
Guelf V. and Henry the Black, married, one Matilda, 
grand duchess of Tuscany, the other a Saxon princess^ 
who brought him extended domains in Luneburg, Bruns- 
wick, and the basin of the Aller. 

2. The Hohenstaufen. — The Staufen, or Hohenstaufen, 
were a Swabian family. The constancy of Frederick the^ 

* Sources. — Besides the monastic Annals (see Wattenbach and the 
appendices of v. Giesebrecht), the most important chronicles for 
this period are that of Otto of Freising, continued by Rahewiu and 
by Otto of Saint-Blaise (" Mon. Germ.," xx.), and that of Godfrey 
of Viterbo (" Mon. Germ.," xxii.). Godfrey composed, moreover, a 
poem on the capture of Milan, and Gunther a poem in ten books on 
Frederick I., called: " Ligurinus " (edition DUmge. 1812). 

Literature.— W: v. Giesebrecht, as above; Prutz, "Kaiser 
Frederick I." ; Browning, "Guelphs and Ghibellinrs " ; Scholz, 
" Beitraege zur Geschichte der Hoheitsrechte des deutschen Koenigs 
zur Zeit der ersten Staufen." 

301 



302 THE GTIELF8 AND HOHENSTAUFEN'. 

Old and his sons, Conrad and Frederick of One Eye, to 
Henry IV. and Henry V. during the quarrel of investi- 
tures, made his fortune; the first was given the duchy of 
Swahia and Conrad that of Franconia. These titles stood 
for territorial possessions that were even more substan- 
tial. Frederick the Old had gradually acquired all the 
land lying between Basel and Mainz; he was master of the 
plain and mountain; it was said of him that ^' he always 
had a castle tied to his horse's tail." He came to be lord 
paramount of the nobles on the Rhine and Neckar, and 
organised a military force able to control the powerful 
episcopal seigniories of Worms, Speyer, and Strasburg. 

3. The House of Saxony. Election of Lothaire II., 
1125. — The Guelfs and Staufen had been faithful servants 
of the Empire. In Saxony, on the contrary, a spirit of 
independence had made rapid and disquieting advances 
during the minority of Henry IV. and the long war 
against the Church. The bitterest enemy of the Empire 
in that country had been Otto of ISTordheim. His vast 
possessions were transmitted to Lothaire of Supplinburg, 
who carried on his policy. Remaining the real master of 
lower Germany, he spent the ten years following in con- 
stant struggles with the A¥ends; he increased his power in 
Brunswick, Misnia, and Lusatia. This ambitious adver- 
sary of imperial hegemony was a sincere partisan of eccle- 
siastical reform; for this reason he was finally chosen as 
iing.* He was sixty years old, yet he kept, as king, the 
warlike ardour which had made his fortune. 

4. Election of the Ghibelline, Conrad III., 1138.— This 
election dashed the hopes of the Guelfs, and especially the 
Ho-henstaufen, which had been raised by the vacancy in 
the throne. Lothaire anticipated their designs; he hin- 

*He is known under the name of Lotliaire II. ; Lothaire I. was the 
«on of Louis the Pious, whom he succeeded. 



FREDEMICK I. 303 

dered an alliance between them by giving his daughter and 
only heir in marriage to Henry the Proud, who had just 
succeeded his father, Henry the Black (1127); then ha 
attacked Frederick of One Eye, and captured Speyer after 
a heroic resistance. 'Yet at his death his son-in-law did 
not ascend the throne, but Conrad of Hohenstaufen, who,. 
born in the castle of Waiblingen, is the first in history to 
bear the name of Ghibelline. Conrad was hurriedly 
crowned by the archbishop of Mainz (1138). Thereupon 
the Welfs, or Guelfs, took up arms. The premature 
death of Henry the Proud, of a malignant fever, at the 
age of thirty-five, and the defeat of his brother Welf VI., 
overcome by the Ghibelline under the walls of Weinsberg,, 
forced them to come to terms. Conrad III. accorded 
honourable conditions to his rivals. Henry the Proud's 
widow married the margrave of Austria, twin brother of 
the new king, who was made duke of Bavaria, and his son^ 
Henry the Lion, received the duchy of Saxony. The- 
first struggle between Guelfs and Ghibellines was so thor- 
oughly settled that Frederick I., nephew of Conrad 11.,. 
peacefully succeeded him in 1152. 

5. Frederick I. Both Guelf and Ghibelline. Descrip- 
tion and Character. — Frederick I. was at that time thirty- 
one years old. He had shortly before inherited from his 
father, Frederick of One Eye, the duchy of Swabia (1147); 
his mother was a daughter of Henry the Black, duke of 
Bavaria. In this way he was cousin to Henry the Lion^ 
and both Guelf and Ghibelline. Moreover, he was worthy 
of the crown, and no other German sovereign reigned 
more brilliantly. He was intelligent, resolute, and natu- 
rally eloquent, especially in German; he knew Latin, but 
spoke it poorly. He never forgot persons whom he had 
once seen, for he was gifted with a remarkable memory; 
he was religious and charitable. Physically, he is de- 



504 THE GUELFS AND HOEENSTAUFEN. 

scribed as being tall and slender, with regular features, a 
quiet, placid expression, beautiful hands and mouth, with 
superb teeth; his eyes were sparkling and light-coloured, 
complexion white, with beard and hair red, whence his 
surname Barbarossa. His charming, noble qualities were 
developed by his participation in important affairs during 
his youth, which prepared him for the profession of a 
king. He had helped Conrad III. in his wars and coun- 
cils; he had fought at his side in the second crusade, and 
was almost the only one to come out of it honourably, 
^arly in life he chose Charlemagne as his model, and he 
-aspired, like him and Otto the Great, to rule Christian 
Europe and the Church. He held definite opinions on 
the rights of sovereigns, which were learned from the 
jurisconsults who taught the Justinian law at Bologna; 
that is to say, the theory of imperial despotism. Of a 
generous nature, capable of planning and executing vast 
projects, he was also proud, cruel, and greedy for power. 

6. Division of his Reign. — His reign may be divided 
into three broad periods : in the first he directed his efforts 
towards the establishment of the authority of the Empire 
in Europe; in the second he organised Germany, and de- 
stroyed the hostile power of the Guelfs; during the third 
he led a new crusade to the East, where he met his death. 
In Italy, two serious events rendered the situation a com- 
plicated one: the formation of a Norman kingdom in the 
south of the peninsula, and the Roman revolution. 

7. Formation of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. — 
Eobert II., nephew of Robert Guiscard, was a remarkable 
statesman. Count of Sicily, in the right of his father, 
Roger I., he dispossessed his cousin William, son of Guis- 
card, of the duchies of Apulia and Calabria, and thus laid 
the foundations of political unity for the Norman state 
^1121). Soon after, there was dissension among the car- 



EEVOLUTIO^ AT ROME. 305 

dinals, on the death of Honorius II., and it happened that 
two popes were elected at once: Innocent II. and Ana- 
cletus (1130). Roger II. upheld the latter, who was his 
hrother-in-law, while the kings of France and of Ger- 
many declared for his rival. Yet he forced him to declare 
him king of Sicily, Calabria, and Apulia, though under 
the suzerainty of the Holy See, and subject to an annual 
payment of six hundred pieces of gold. Shortly after, 
Innocent II. was brought back to Rome by the victorious 
German troops; but he fell into the hands of the ISTorman, 
who compelled him to ratify the treaty imposed on the 
antipope nine years before. Henceforth the legality of 
his royal title was unimpeachable. It was an obstacle to 
the control which the emperors dreamed of 'establishing 
over Italy, and a danger to the Papacy, held in check by 
the dreaded forces of Germans and Normans. 

8. Revolution at Rome. The Republic, 1143. — About 
this same time a revolution broke out in Rome. While 
most of the Italian cities had established municipal re- 
publics, favoured by industrial and commercial activity, 
and even by the civil wars and crusades, the Eternal City 
had remained stationary. As the political and religious 
capital of the Empire, its masters, though rivals, were too 
powerful to make early emancipation possible; it had, 
moreover, neither industry nor commerce, and therefore 
had no source of independent power. It is true that the 
people, assembled at the Capitol, shared in the election of 
prefect and Pope and bore the proud title of Populus 
Romanus. But the power was held by the country no- 
bility, or an oligarchy made up of those who styled them- 
selves haughtily Consules Bomanorum. The nobility of 
the provinces, holding their fiefs under the Pope, were for 
this reason almost entirely excluded from the government, 
ae well as the simple knights, vassals of nobles and 



306 TEE GUELFS AND HOHENSTAUFEN. 

churches, who corresponded to the vavasours in Lorn- 
hardy. However, the establishment of Tuscan and Lom- 
bard republics, added to the memories of antiquity revived 
by the study of the Eoman law of Justinian, prepared 
men's minds for a revolution. It broke forth during the 
reign of Conrad III., the only one of the German kings,, 
since Otto the Great, who did not wear the imperial crown. 
In 1143 the people, aroused to violence, took the Capitol 
by assault and overthrew the power of the consuls, whose 
place was taken by a municipal council (Senatus). The 
lesser country nobility, hating the consuls, supported the 
movement; while the provincial nobility gathered under 
the Pope's standard. From its beginning the young Eo- 
man republic was torn by factions, which were kept alive 
by still another agitator, the celebrated Arnold of Brescia. 
9. Arnold of Brescia. — Arnold was a disciple of the 
Frenchman Abelard. After studying with him dialectics 
and theology, he returned to his native city, where he 
became a regular canon. He was of austere life and ex- 
alted opinions. From his point of view, civil power 
should be vested exclusively in princes and republics; the 
clergy should be supported exclusively on tithes, for the 
possession of land was contrary to the canons of the 
Church, and non-Christian. Like ideas had inspired the 
Milanese Patarini, and Pascal II. himself; but times had 
changed. The bishops of Brescia denounced the author 
at a council of the Lateran, and had him condemned as a 
heretic. Arnold then went back to France, where he 
took an active part in the last struggles in which his mas- 
ter, Abelard, was overcome; but Saint Bernard persuaded 
the king to expel him. Then he took refuge in Switzer- 
land, then in Eome, whence Pope Eugene III. had just 
been driven out (1143). Here his preachings made a deep 
impression on the lower class, the enemies of feudal oli- 



FREDERICK I. AT ROME. 307 

garchy; and on the clergy, hostile to the aristocracy of car- 
dinals. He wished to restore the old constitution, with 
the order of senators, and knights, and the Senate sitting 
at the Capitol. During nine years he lived in the midst 
of fruitless agitation; then Frederick came at last, to con- 
trol the situation which had become unendurable. 

10. Frederick I. at Rome. He Overthrows the Repub- 
lic. Death of Arnold of Brescia, 1155. — Leading an army 
in which, as an exception, there were more lay princes 
than ecclesiastical banners, he came to pitch his tents in 
the great plain of Eoncaglia, near Piacenza, where the 
German sovereigns were accustomed to review their troops 
in their expeditions to Eome. He there called upon his 
vassals for military service; he cited the deputies of cities, 
which had complaints to address to him, to appear before 
his tribunal; he promulgated a new constitution for fiefs; 
then he passed on to Pavia, to assume the crown of iron, 
thence marched straight to Eome, Hostilities had al- 
ready begun there. Since December 5, 1154, the papal 
throne had been occupied by an energetic Pope, Nicholas 
Breakspeare, an Englishman, the son of a coarse peasant, 
who in the course of events had become lay brother at the 
abbey of Saint Albans. His youth had been one of priva- 
tion, but by intelligence and work he had gradually risen 
to the first rank. As Hadrian IV. he had hurled his 
malediction at Eome, and placed it under an interdict, be- 
cause of an attack on one of the cardinals. He finally 
treated with Frederick, promising him the imperial crown, 
which a deputation from the Eoman Senate also offered 
him. Frederick disdainfully answered the latter: " You 
boast of your city's glory, of the wisdom of your Senate, 
the courage of your young men. Eome is no longer at 
Eome. Do you wish to see again that ancient Eoman 
glory, that dignity of the Senate, that judicious arrange- 



308 THE 0UELF8 AND HOHEFSTAUFEN'. 

ment of camps, that valour and discipline in the cavalry? 
It is all in the midst of ns, with the Empire ! Your chiefs 
are become my vassals; I am your legitimate master." 
Taking the Pope with him, he established himself on 
Mount Mario; his troops took possession of the Leonine 
city, and ignoring the Eomans he was crowned in Saint 
Peter's one Saturday, while the gates were closed. Made 
aware, by the acclamations from the Germans, of what had 
taken place, the Eomans rushed to arms, but they were re- 
pulsed with great loss, after a violent struggle. Arnold of 
Brescia, given up to Frederick, was secretly put to death. 
However, the emperor did not dare attack the main posi- 
tion; malaria seized his army, and he returned after de- 
stroying Spoleto, which threatened to interrupt his march. 
He left nothing but distrust behind him. Through his 
pride and cruelty he had made implacable enemies. 

11. Distrust of the Emperor in Italy. Milan and 
Hadrian IV. — Milan was among the foremost. This city 
was unquestionably the first in Lombardy, because of her 
walls, her free constitution, the unity of her citizens, and 
her alliances. She had everything to fear from a prince 
whose political maxim was the adage of the Eoman law: 
'^All that pleases a prince has the force of law." She 
prepared boldly for the imminent struggle; first building 
up the walls of Tortona, which had been razed by Fred- 
erick, then destroying Lodi, which lay between her and 
her allies beyond the river Adda. Moreover, the Pope 
was displeased that the emperor should have such exalted 
views of the temporal power. He had not hesitated to 
make peace with the Eomans and to ally himself with 
William I., the Bad, son and successor of Eoger II. in 
Sicily (1156). The year following, the archbishop of 
Lund, suspected of having plotted to withdraw the 
Northern churches from the jurisdiction of the German 



RIGHTS OF EMPIRE. 309 

primate of Hamburg, was arrested and put in prison 
by the emperor's order; the Pope complained bitterly; 
about it. Two legates bore a letter to Frederick, 
then at the diet at Besangon, in which he recalled to 
his mind his benefits (heneficia), among others the im- 
perial crown which he had " conferred " on him. The 
expressions were ambiguous, perhaps designedly so. 
The imperial chancellor, Rainald de Dassel, lent 
to them the most annoying interpretation, as if the 
Pope had meant that the crown was a fief (Jbeneficium) 
granted by the Holy See. The emperor's followers were 
loud in their protestations. " From whom does the em- 
peror take his power, if not from the Pope?" exclaimed 
one of the legates. Cardinal Roland. At this Otto of 
Wittelsbach, count palatine of Bavaria, one of Fred- 
erick's most violent partisans, drew his sword, and would 
have struck the cardinal, if the emperor had not pro- 
tected him with his own body. It was fruitless for the 
Pope to try to prove that he had been misunderstood; 
nothing could efface the imperious words of the cardinal. 
12. Frederick I. Proclaims the Rights of the Empire at 
Eoncaglia, 1158. — While at Besancon he issued orders to 
the feudal army to assemble in the following spring. 
Thirty thousand men crossed the Alps, and the emperor 
met a new assembly at Eoncaglia in November, 1158. The 
four most celebrated doctors of Bologna, aided by two 
judges for each of the cities represented, were empowered 
to make out a list of the royal powers which had been en- 
joyed by the princes and cities of Italy. All acknowl- 
edged that they belonged to the emperor, and all re- 
nounced any further exercise of these powers; however, 
the emperor allowed those who possessed authentic titles 
to remain in possession of them. There remained still 
enough to bring him in thirty thousand pounds a year. 



310 THE GUELFS AND HOHENSTAUFEN. 

Besides this, he took measures to restore the feudal 
regime in Italy, and to prevent future development of the 
cities. On one hand he forbade the parcelling of large 
fiefs, duchies, marquisates, and counties, since in their 
integrity they afforded a better vantage ground for the 
sovereign; for the lesser fiefs, division was allowed, on 
condition that the joint owners should take the oath of 
fealty to their suzerain, in order that feudal obligations 
should always be equally carried out. The emperor placed 
the cities in Lombardy under the supervision of consuls, 
or podestas, amenable to his authority. These podestas, 
.whose models were found in the cities of the Eomagna, 
were often foreigners, and, as such, more inclined to de- 
fend the rights of the sovereign than the interests of the 
cities. Then Frederick could proclaim the pacification 
of Italy, as his predecessors had done, a thousand times, 
in Germany; quite ready, however, to impose it forcibly on 
refractory members of the state — namely, on Milan and 
the Pope. 

13. Milan Eefuses to Submit. It Is Razed, 1162. — 
Milan declined to receive the podestas. For two years it 
braved the imperial army, then, for lack of provisions, the 
heroic city was compelled to surrender unconditionally. 
Frederick first commanded all inhabitants to depart; 
they obeyed. That same day the emperor entered the de- 
serted city with his princes, followers, and the militia of 
the allied cities. From his tribunal he asked what pun- 
ishment the Milanese deserved. The Lombards an- 
swered: " They destroyed Lodi and Como, let their city 
in its turn be destroyed! " It was the horrible penalty 
of retaliation which the emperor did not hesitate to exe- 
cute. He, with his German knights, withdrew beyond the 
gates. The Italians immediately set fire to the four cor- 
ners of the city; the walls, towers, even the churches. 



CANONISATION OF CHARLEMAGNE, 1165. 311 

iwere torn down; the work of destruction was accom- 
plished in a week! A month later the bishop of Liege 
was named podesta of the Milanese population, which had 
been disarmed, scattered among four villages, and con- 
demned to agricultural labours; a heavy indemnity besides 
made future progress impossible. Then the emperor 
seized for himself the best lands, from which he formed 
a vast domain lying between the Yessin and Adda; the 
castle of Monza, which had been recently built, became its 
centre. 

14. The Emperor Wishes to Control the Holy See. — 
After Milan, Pope Hadrian IV. being dead, the majority 
of the cardinals, hostile to the emperor, elected the same 
Eoland who had aroused such anger at the diet of Besan- 
^on. He took the name of Alexander III. The minority, 
however, chose Cardinal Octavian, of proved fidelity to 
the emperor; he called himself Victor IV. Alexander 
III. excommunicated his rival at once, and, since he 
feared he might be carried off by the German cavalry, he 
fled to France, where he was eagerly received by Louis 
VII. and acknowledged by Henry II. of England. The 
emperor felt himself shaken by this moral force opposed 
to him by the two great kingdoms of the West; but he 
needed his own Pope too much to draw back; therefore, 
w^hen Victor IV. died (1164), he chose, as his successor, 
Pascal III. 

15. Canonisation of Charlemagne, 1165. — The Pope 
showed his gratitude by canonising Charlemagne, whose 
remains had recently been found at Aix-la-Chapelle. 
Frederick, who affected as his model the great emperor, 
had them placed in a golden urn, enclosed in an altar of 
wood, which was later surmounted by a crown of light. 
The festivities in honour of this occasion, the rich 
presents given the Church at Aix, the privileges 



312 THE QUELFS AND HOHENSTATTFEN. 

granted the city, appealed forcibly to the imagination 
of contemporaries, as if the two emperors, the liv- 
ing and the dead, had made a pact to dominate the 
world. 

16. Alexander III. and the Lombard League. — ^In the 
meantime Alexander III. had gone back to Kome, where 
the people received him as a liberator; he became at once 
the centre of the opposition which the emperor had 
aroused. He allied himself with the king of Sicily and 
with Yenice; the emperor of the East, Manuel, at- 
tempted to come to some understanding with him, by 
promising him the union of the two Churches, if the 
Pope would agree to crown him emperor of the West. 
There were leagues forming throughout the country be- 
sides. One included Verona and the neighbouring 
cities. Cremona led another, although it had been loaded 
with benefits by the emperor. Bergamo and Brescia 
joined them, then Lodi, Parma, and Piacenza; friends 
and enemies, now reconciled, united forces against the 
oppressor of Italian liberties. Even the Milanese were 
allowed to become members, though with some difficulty, 
and the ruins of the city were promptly rebuilt. Finally 
the Lombard league completed an alliance with the 
Veronese league and with Venice. A general council, 
composed of rectors taken from each of the sixteen cities 
of the association, was entrusted with executive power. 
This was a counterpoise to the decisions of nine years be- 
fore at Eoncaglia. It is true that the cities consented to 
observe their fealty to the emperor, but this was nothing 
more than an empty form. Finally, in order to keep the 
emperor in check, the allies built, in the very country 
out of which he had carved such vast domains, at the 
junction of the Tanaro and the Bomiida, a fortified city, 
iwhich was given the name of the Pope, Alexandria (April 



EMPEROR HUMBLES HIMSELF BEFORE POPE. 31S 

24, 1168). "City of Straw," the Germans called it de- 
risively, but it took more than one fire of straw to bum 
it up. Troubles at home were so serious that the em- 
peror had to wait seven years before beginning the 
struggle again (1174). 

17. The Emperor Overcome by the League at Legnano, 
1176. — This time the emperor was made aware that his 
system of extreme oppression had tired his own subjects. 
It was with difficulty that he gathered together eight 
thousand men, who were unsuccessful before Alexandria. 
In spite of reinforcements sent by the archbishops of 
Cologne and Magdeburg, he could bring but six thousand 
men into the field of Legnano. There were about eight 
thousand in the army of the league; in its midst there 
was a chariot, or caroccio, bearing the confederate stand- 
ards; picked warriors, grouped around them, standing on a 
platform, made a guard of honour for these flags. The 
struggle was soon decided, the Milanese infantry secured 
the victory. The standard-bearer of the Empire was 
killed, and the emperor unhorsed; his army then became 
panic-stricken and disbanded. 

18. The Emperor Humbles Himself before the Pope at 
Venice, 1177. — Frederick confessed himself conquered, 
first by suspending hostilities, then by opening secret 
negotiations with the Pope. They finally met at Venice, 
where the conditions of peace were solemnly arranged. 
Frederick gave back to the Roman Church all that he 
had seized, but kept the possessions of Countess Matilda; 
he granted the Lombard league a truce of six years, the 
king of Sicily one of fifteen. On the whole, he formally 
yielded but one right — that of deciding between two popes 
named simultaneously. Thereafter the Pope chosen by 
a majority of the cardinals should be considered legiti- 
mate. Yet this decision secured the independence of the 



314 TEE GTIELFS AND EOEENSTAUFEK 

Papacy, since the Empire could no longer dispose of the 
tiara. 

19. The Emperor Combats the Lay Aristocracy. Trial 
and Condemnation of Henry the Lion, 1180. — Free in this 
direction, the emperor turned against the lay aristocracy, 
which had been poor supporters in the struggle, and espe- 
cially attacked its chief, Henry the Lion. For twenty 
years the power of the duke of Saxony and Bavaria had 
gone on increasing. He had carried on a successful and 
bloody war against the pagan Slavs; he had developed 
commerce in the Baltic by means of his alliance with the 
king of Denmark and his protection of Liibeck. He had 
married a daughter of the king of England, Henry II. 
In 1172 he undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which 
gained him renown, and on his return he was received as 
a sovereign in Constantinople. He was on good terms 
with Frederick, yet refused to take any part in his expe- 
ditions outside of Germany; hence he was in none of the 
Italian expeditions of 1162, 1174, or 1176. In fact, he 
would not help to build up imperial despotism. Charle- 
magne's successor could not long brook such pride; yet 
the Guelf was too strong to be attacked openly; he called 
in the law. Henry was at war with the bishop of Halber- 
stadt, whom the archbishop of Cologne supported. The 
bishop laid his grievances before the diet. Summoned 
three times to appear, Henry refused. Then the nobles, 
consulted by the emperor, decided that he should be 
placed under the ban of the empire and deprived of his 
property and dignities. So read the law. The emperor 
approved the sentence, yet was willing to make one last 
eifort. Henry did not appear at the fourth summons. 
Then the sentence pronounced against him was executed. 
His Saxon duchy was divided: the diocese of Paderborn 
and southern Westphalia were given to the archbishop of 



PACIFICATION OF ITALY. 315 

Cologne; northern and eastern Westphalia to Count 
Bernard of Anhalt, and also the ducal rank; Bavaria, less 
Styria, which was raised to a duchy, was given to Otto of 
Wittelsbach. The emperor had merely to appear ia 
Saxony to quell Henry's resistance. A month was given 
his partisans in which to submit, under penalty of losing 
their fiefs. The month passed by, and they deserted oue 
whom the Empire had cast off. Soon the only course left 
to Henry the Lion was to seek the emperor's pardon at 
the diet of Erfurt. But he was a conquered man, and 
they were bitter against him. The diet condemned him 
to three years of exile, and the emperor could scarcely 
save for him Brunswick and Luneburg. 

20. Pacification of Italy. Peace of Constance Advan- 
tageous for the Emperor, 1183. — Having procured peace 
for Germany, Frederick I. wished to do the same for Italy. 
The misfortunes of his cousin, Henry the Lion, made him 
reflect, and he showed more nobility in treating with his 
subjects than in fighting them. The six years' truce with 
the Lombards was about to end. Frederick opened nego- 
tiations, which resulted in the treaty of Constance. He 
acknowledged the autonomy of the cities of the League, 
and conferred on them legal powers in the towns, as well 
as outside the walls. They, in turn, every ten years, were 
to take the oath of fealty to the Empire, provide troops, 
ensure free passage over roads and bridges, billet the 
soldiers, and require imperial investiture for their chosen 
magistrates, and send them to the general diets of the 
Empire. An able, firm policy might secure solid advan- 
tages from these stipulations, for the emperor still kept' 
his allies in Romagna and even Lombardy; he possessed! 
the vast domains which he had restored or created be- 
tween the Tessin and Adda, and in present Piedmont 
and Liguria; and lastly he could draw from Italy sub- 



816 THE 0UELF8 AM) HOHENSTAUFEK 

Btantial revenues. His position was still good. Yet, in 
principle, he was beaten. The arrogant decrees promul- 
gated at Eoncaglia were annulled. 

21. Frederick I. Makes New Alliances against the 
Pope. — Frederick was a ruler who knew how to turn his 
reverses to advantage. Beaten by the Pope's alliance 
with the king of Sicily and the Lombard towns, he could 
still find allies, even among those of the Papacy, to begin 
again the inevitable struggle with the Papacy. In 1184 
he concluded a marriage between his oldest son, Henry, 
already crowned king of the Romans, and Constance, 
heiress to the kingdom of Sicily; moreover, he opened re- 
lations with Milan, which he substantially favoured to the 
detriment of Pavia, the old imperial city. His son's mar- 
riage was celebrated there, and his daughter-in-law was 
crowned queen of Germany (1186). Thus threatened by 
the coalition between north and south, the Papacy was 
making ready for the struggle, when the news of the tak- 
ing of Jerusalem by Saladin startled Christianity. The 
third crusade was successfully preached in Germany. 
Frederick set out, leading a numerous army, never to 
return. 

22. The Work of Frederick I. Its Greatness and Weak- 
ness. — No prince before him had borne the imperial name 
so haughtily. He styled himself, " Emperor of the Ro- 
mans, ever august," and in fact assumed to reign over all 
the Christian world. In order to attach the house of 
Burgundy more closely to Germany, he married (1156) 
the countess of Upper Burgundy, Beatrice, the gracious, 
fair-haired princess, whose numerous children seemed to 
promise a long future to the Ghibelline house. He 
wished to assume the Burgundian crown, which no Ger- 
man sovereign had worn before him. The ceremony took 
place at Aries, with much pomp, in the presence of all the 



THE WORK OF FREDERICK I. 317 

clergy of the province (1178). Bohemia, on the east, 
was raised to a duchy, although without gaining its in- 
dependence. He looked upon England and France as 
provinces subject to the Empire, and their sovereigns as 
vassal. His pretensions were futile, yet his power was 
real. Italy paid in to him great revenues, and the lesser 
German nobility, protected by him, furnished a numerous 
soldiery. Thanks to these military and financial forces, 
he was enabled to dare so much. The brilliancy of let- 
ters and arts added lustre to the greatness of his reign. 
But the emperor was a man of the past; he was hostile 
to the independence of the Church, of kings, and peoples. 
After he had gone the Empire was shattered by these 
united forces. 



318 



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CHAPTER XX. 

END OF THE HOHEXSTAUFEN — VICTORY OF THE PAPACY 
OYER THE EMPIRE.* 

1. Sons of Frederick I. Henry VI., 1190-1197.— 

Frederick Barbarossa left five sons. The oldest, Henry 
VL, king already of Germany and Italy, carried on his 
father^s policy with such feverish haste that he com- 
promised his cause. He had to struggle against 
Henry the Lion in Germany, who had come back to 
Saxony, in spite of the sentence of the diet. Henr}' the 
Lion counted on the support of his brother-in-law, Rich- 
ard, king of England, but Richard's arrest in Austria, 
returning from the crusades, his long captivity and the 

* Sources. — Among" the very numerous sources of the thirteenth 
century (see Wattenbach, volume ii., ch. 5, ^ 10-24), we cite only 
the chronicle of Albert of Stade (" Mon. Germ.," xvi.), the ** Chronica 
regia Coloniensis" (edition Waitz, 1880), the "Chronicle of Urs- 
perg" (" Mon. Germ./'xxiii.), a Saxon chronicle in German (vol- 
ume ii. of " Deutsche Chroniken," 1886). The Italian chronicles of 
the same period (in Muratori, " Scriptores rerum italicarum," 28 
vols., 1723-1751) have great value for the history of Frederick 
II., and the last Hohenstaufen. Potthast: " Regesta pontificum 
romanorum," 2 vols., 1874-1875. Huillard Breholles: " Historia 
diplomatica Frederici II.." 5 vols. (1852-1859). Winckelmann: 
"Acta imperii inedita saec. XIII. et XIV." (1885). tlie Berger: 
"Les Registres d'Innocent IV.," 3 vols. (1884-1897; in course of 
publication). The correspondence of Peter of Vinea is the principal 
source for the history of Frederick II. (edition Jehim. Basel, 1740). 

Literature.— Winkelmann on Philipp von Schwaben und Otto 
lY., and Frederick II. in " Jahrbiicher der deutschen Geschichte "; 
Blondel, *':&tude aur la Politique de I'Empereur Frederic II. en 
Allemagne.'^ 

319 



320 END OF THE HOEENSTAVFEN. 

heavy price he had to pay for his liberty, as well as the 
difficulties which he met with on his return home, ruined 
the Guelf cause. In Italy the king had nothing to fear 
from the timorous popes who succeeded Alexander III., 
so that he was crowned at Rome, untroubled by the 
Eomans. 

2. Henry VI. Takes Possession of the Kingdom of 
Sicily. — In the meanwhile William II., the Good, king of 
Sicily and Naples, had died, leaving no heir but Con- 
stance, the daughter of Eoger II. and the wife of Henry 
VI. A bastard son of William I., Tancred of Lecce, 
seized the crown, with the nation's aid,^ which rejected a 
foreign ruler. Tancred died soon after, leaving a child 
to succeed him. Then the emperor met no resistance to 
his invasion; Naples opened her gates, the Sicilian ad- 
miral, Margarito, delivered up Palermo and the fleet in 
exchange for the title of " Prince of Durazzo and the 
Sea." Henry laid hands upon the royal treasure, which 
was sent to Germany; one hundred and fifty mules, with 
a strong escort, carried this precious booty beyond the 
mountains. 

3. Vast Plans of Henry VI. His Early Death.— Undis- 
puted master of Germany and Italy, Henry VI. conceived 
vast plans. He had married a daughter of the emperor 
of the Orient, Isaac Angelus, to his brother, Philip of 
Swabia, and when her father was overthrown he wished to 
interfere. The time had come, he said, to avenge the 
Latin crusaders, and his father, Barbarossa, for the 
Byzantine treachery. At the same time he took the cross, 
hoping to seize Constantinople with the army which was 
to reconquer Jerusalem. On the other hand, he incited 
Richard the Lion-Hearted to war with the king of France, 
who refused to do him homage. Finally he exacted of 
the German princes the declaration that royalty and the 



INNOCENT III. 321 

Empire should be hereditary in his house. In return he 
promised laymen that their fiefs should be hereditary; 
and prelates to abandon the regalian rights. It was, in- 
deed, universal dominion to which Barbarossa's son 
aspired. He was about to set out for the crusades when 
he was suddenly struck down by disease at Messina (Sep- 
tember 28, 1197). He was only thirty. The young child 
whom he left, named in his cradle Frederick and Roger, 
in memory of his German and Neapolitan grandfathers, 
was to be Frederick II. 

4. The German Crown Contested. The Guelf, Otto IV., 
and the Ghibelline, Philip of Swabia. — Frederick-Roger 
was elected king of the Romans before being baptised, 
even. But the German princes were not inclined to en- 
dure a long minority. Some of their number chose the 
younger son of Henry the Lion, Otto of Brunswick, whose 
uncle, the king of England, had given him the county of 
Poitou; the majority, on the contrary, selected Philip of 
Swabia, uncle of the infant king. A schism now existed 
in the state, and the quarrel between the Guelfs and the 
Ghibellines was about to begin again, when a great Pope, 
Innocent III., ascended Saint Peter's throne (January, 
1198). 

5. Innocent III. His Views. — Innocent III. was the 
son of a count of Segna in Sabina. He had been care- 
fully educated. He studied grammar and theology in 
Paris, civil and canonical law in Bologna; he had written 
treatises on Christian dogma, and on ecclesiastical law and 
discipline. The most celebrated one was " On the 
Wretchedness of the Human Lot," in which it was im- 
possible to detect the pontiff who, for eighteen years, 
guided the affairs of Christendom. This priest, so 
scholarly in spite of his high birth, so indifferent to the 
world apparently, even when cardinal, attained the pon- 



322 END OF THE HOEENSTAUFEN. 

tifical position wken lie was thirty-eight years old. He 
brought to his office youthful enthusiasm, firm religious 
and political convictions^ great tenacity in the fulfilment 
of his purpose, and an imperfect knowledge of men. This 
led him into mistakes; for more than once he was deceived 
in the help they might afford him, and he was compelled 
to sacrifice them when they threatened to compromise his 
authority and the prestige of the Church. His views 
were those of Qregory VII. As, in man, the soul is 
superior to the body, so, in society, the priesthood was, in. 
his opinion, superior to lay power. " God," he said in 
his speech, which showed the stamp of mystical pedantry, 
"placed two great bodies in the firmament, one to light 
the day, the other the night; even so has he established 
two. orders, one superior, for souls, the other lesser, for 
bodies; and as the moon receives its light from the sun, 
so does royal power take its splendour from pontifical au- 
thority/^ Everyone acknowledged that the head of the 
Church was supreme judge in matters relating to sin; but 
the conclusion was forced that he had the right to inter- 
fere in all worldly questions and in the quarrels of 
princes, " Grod," he continued, " has set the Prince of 
the apostles over kings and kingdoms, with a mission to 
tear w^, plant, destroy, scatter, and rebuild." Events lent 
themselves strangely to the triumph of these ideas; they 
made it possible for the Pope to establish the independ- 
ence of the Papacy in Italy, to dispose of the Grerman 
crown, and to extend his authority over Europe and entire 
Christendom, by his diplomacy, wars, and government. 

0. Innocent III. Governs at Rome. — In Italy he found 
Rome in the power of the democracy, the Church lands 
occupied by Germans, the Sicilian kingdom on the eve of 
being indissolubly united with Germany, to the disad- 
vantage of the rights of suzeraiaty and even of the 



INNOCENT III. UPHOLDS OTTO IV. 323 

secTirity of the Holy See. He took advantage of the isola- 
tion of the Romans, brought about by the death of 
Henry VL, to persuade the prefect of the city, who repre- 
sented the emperor, to do him homage. He also forced 
the senator, head of the municipal administration, to ab- 
dicate; the people, won over by bis presents, renounced 
the right of electing the senate. It is true that the Ro- 
man commune kept its autonomy, its political assemblies 
in the Capitol, its finances, its army, and the right of 
sending podestas to other cities in papal territory; but 
neither the emperor^s lieutenant nor the head of the city 
commanded, but the Pope. 

7. He Reorganises the Temporal Power. — ^At the same 
time, Spoleto, Ancona, -Ravenna, abandoned by the liated 
Germans, were reoccupied by the Pope. He made an. 
alliance with the Tuscan cities, and with their aid dis- 
possessed the vassals of the emperor of the ever-disputed 
domains of the Countess Matilda. Finally the widow of 
Henry VI., in order to secure the crown for her son, Fred- 
erick, accepted investiture from the Pope and paid him 
tribute. By will she gave her son into his care, and 
when she died (1198), Innocent III. governed by his 
legates the fair kingdom of Sicily, which had been such a 
source of trouble to the Holy See. 

8. Innocent III. Upholds Otto IV. in Crermany. — In 
Germany the struggle between the two kings chosen gave 
him an excellent pretext for interference- He could 
scarcely hesitate between the Ghibelline, enemy of the 
Church, and the Guelf, enemy of the Empire. Besides, 
Philip, who owned tlie vast accumulated possessions of 
the Hohenstaufen, was arrogant; while Otto, supported 
entirely by the large subsidies furnished by his uncles, 
Richard and John, kings of England, made the most flat- 
tering promises to the Holy See. Therefore, Innocent 



324 END OF THE EOHENSTAUFEN. 

III. recognised the latter, and excommunicated Philip. 
He made a mistake in choosing Otto. Although brave 
and enterprising, he was treacherous and fickle. He was 
not resourceful nor talented enough to compel fortune, 
so that he was soon beaten everywhere by Philip, and 
relegated to his hereditary states. Moreover, his success- 
ful rival gained the confidence of the Holy See; his con- 
ciliatory attitude and natural affability made a good 
impression on the Pope, who began to weary of a bur- 
densome and incapable pensioner. Philip would doubtless 
have become reconciled with the Church if he had not 
been assassinated by the palatine count of Bavaria, to 
whom he had refused the hand of one of his daughters 
in marriage. This tragic death - changed the aspect of 
affairs at once. All Germany acknowledged Otto; he won 
back the Pope by granting freedom of papal elections, 
abandoning the regalian rights, and promising to support 
the Church in all that pertained to the spiritual domain. 
He at last went to Eome to receive the imperial crown. 

9. Rupture between Innocent III. and Otto IV.^ 1210. — 
" beloved son," wrote the Pope to the emperor, his 
creature, "we are of one soul and heart! Henceforth, 
who shall resist us, we who bear the two swords, which the 
apostles once showed to the Lord, saying: '^ Here are two 
swords,' and to which the Lord answered: ^It is 
enough '! No, nothing can express the immense bene- 
fits which will arise from this union.'' Events were not 
long in giving the lie to this unwise rhetoric. Otto had 
sacrificed the Empire's rights to secure the Empire. Once 
legally crowned, he became, like his predecessors, an 
enemy of the Papacy. It was dishonourable, but inevi- 
table. Germany, Guelf or Ghibelline, could not be re- 
signed to the loss of Italy. Otto IV. so proved it by 
occupying the cities of Tuscany, by placing his own men 



FREDERICK IT. 325 

at the head of the march of Ancona and the duchy of 
Spoleto, by forcing podestas on the cities of Ferrara, 
Brescia, and Vicenza; by exacting homage from the Ro- 
man prefect, and invading the kingdom of Naples. This 
was going too far. The Pope launched the sentence of 
excommunication at his former pensioner, and incited 
enemies against him everywhere. In Italy he aroused the 
distrust of the Lombard city, in France he made Philip- 
Augustus fear the alliance between John Lackland and 
Otto IV., and finally in Germany, where he recognised his 
ward, Frederick, as king. 

10. Frederick II. in Germany. Supported by the Pope. 
— Frederick II. was then seventeen years old. He owed 
everything to the Church; his brilliant education and the 
Sicilian crown, which had been kept for him. He ex- 
pressed his gratitude by going first to Rome to do homage 
to the Pope for his kingdom; then he boldly entered Ger- 
many. Along the valley of the Rhine there were numer- 
ous partisans of his house, and he went to Mainz to as- 
sume the German crown (1213). The defeat of Otto IV. 
at Bouvines perfected his budding fortunes, and he was 
consecrated a second time at Aix-la-Chapelle, before 
Charlemagne's tomb. 

11. Frederick II. Relieved of his Guardian, 1216, and 
Rival, 1218.— At last Innocent III. died (July, 1216) and 
Otto IV. (May 19, 1218), and thus relieved of the 
burden of gratitude towards his protector, and the anxie- 
ties of an ever-disturbing rival, he was free to act as he 
saw fit. 

12. Frederick II. King of Germany and Sicily. Union 
of Kingdom and Empire Forbidden. — As hereditary king 
of Sicily and elected king of Germany, Frederick II. 
wished to be master in the two kingdoms. He needed 
German military contingents and Italian finances to carry 



326 END OF THE HOEENSTAUFEN. 

out his political policy. This was what Barbarossa had! 
wished, but with this difference, that he longed for the 
revenues of the Lombard and Tuscan cities where im- 
perial authority was so much contested, while Frederick 
11. wished to exploit, unopposed, a country ripe for 
despotism. Innocent III. had indeed forbidden the 
union of the two kingdoms, and Frederick II. was forced 
to yield. When his former teacher, Honorius III., took 
possession of the Holy See, the situation was modified in 
his favour. He took the cross suddenly in 1214; and was 
then able to make the Pope understand that the peace 
of Germany was necessary to the success of the expedi- 
tion, and that he must in advance be assured of the Ger- 
man succession. And in fact his young son, Henry, was 
elected (1220), and he himself received the imperial 
crown, but he kept Sicily. His assumption of the title 
Imperator et rex Sicilice aroused no protestations. Doubt- 
less he renewed liis oath of allegiance to the Holy 
See; he confirmed the annual tribute of a thousand 
pieces of gold paid by Sicily, and promised to employ 
Sicilians only in the Sicilian administration. In reality 
he had gained a great diplomatic victory, the most 
decisive of his reign. He seemed, however, inclined to 
live amicably with the Pope, for, on the occasion when 
he renewed his vow to go on the crusade, he promulgated, 
at Eome, a constitution of nine articles, most favourable 
to the liberties of the Church and cruel to heretics. 
These were valuable pledges of his good faith. Honorius 
believed in them, and the Empire was at peace. 

Under favour of this tranquillity, Frederick was en- 
abled to establish and strengthen his power in his two 
kingdoms. 

13. Organisation of Despotism in Sicily. — In the soutK 
he planned to substitute a strong centralised administra- 



ORQAmSATlON OF DESPOTISM IN SICILY, 327 

tion for the feudal organisation of the I^orman "kings, an 
-easy task in the classic land of lazzaroni. He realised this 
plan in the constitution of Melfi (1231), which withdrew 
all authority from prelates, the great lay nobles, and 
cities, to giye it to officials dra\¥n from among the lesser 
nobility of knights and directly dep€ndent on the crown; 
the king exercised supreme, uncontrolled power in every- 
thing relating to administration and justice; the cities, 
ynih the exception of the fiTe largest, lost their magis- 
trates, who were replaced by royal bailiffs, and they were 
subject to a very severe fiscal regime. He tried to in- 
crease the resources, and consequently the taxable 
strength of the country, by promoting agriculture, favour- 
ing industry and commerce, which found a valuable out- 
Jet because of treaties made with the Mussulman princes 
of Africa; but he granted no commercial freedom to his 
subjects; he kept the monopoly of a variety of products, 
such as salt and metals. By means of the large sums 
furnished by these exactions, he was enabled to create a 
permanent paid army and navy. The owners of fiefs re- 
turning military service served merely to fill up the army, 
for Frederick employed great numbers of Mussulmans. 
These were descendants of the old conquerors of Sicily. 
They were still numerous in the island towards the end 
of the twelfth century, and their frequent uprisings dis- 
turbed Frederick's minority. In four campaigns the em- 
peror dislodged them from their fortified heights and 
transplanted them in mass to the continent, where he dis- 
tributed them among the camps of Nocera, near Salerno, 
and of Luceria, between Troja and Foggia on the slope of 
the Adriatic. However, he respected their language, cus- 
toms, and religion, and found them to be faithful soldiers, 
fearing neither God nor the Pope. He was an enlight- 
ened prince, a patron of troubadours and minnesinger. 



328 END OF THE HOHENSTAUFEN. 

who found skilful imitators at the court of Palermo; in- 
terested in sciences and astrology, naturally sceptical; 
broad-minded;, yet not a free thinker; he would not toler- 
ate in others the freedom of manners and language which 
he allowed himself. His subjects were forbidden to go 
abroad to complete their studies; he protected the uni- 
versity of Naples, yet watched closely its teachings. 
Heretics were cruelly persecuted, especially in the cities, 
and he was accused of pursuing political vengeance under 
cover of religion. Such a system bore its fruits; the 
Sicilians were no longer a people, but a troop of tax- 
payers. 

14. Frederick II. Restores Political Authority in Ger- 
many with the Help of the Church. — A like policy was 
impossible in the Empire; he could not dream of destroy- 
ing feudalism, and it would have been dangerous to com- 
bat it. Also, with the support of the high clergy, Fred- 
erick had won his victory over Otto IV.; therefore its 
privileges were unassailed. The Teutonic Order was 
particularly favoured; it was entrusted with the conquest 
and conversion of Prussia (1226); the first grand master 
of this order, Hermann de Salza, was a devoted agent of 
Frederick's policy. He worked with all his power to ex- 
tirpate heresy, and his decrees of proscription were so 
rigorously enforced that an inquisitor, Conrad of Mar- 
burg, was massacred. The only opposition he encoun- 
tered was from his son Henry, elected king of Germany, 
who publicly accused him of infringing on his sovereign, 
rights. It was sufficient for Frederick to appear beyond 
the Alps, without his army, to end his arrogance (1235). 
Henry was deposed, then led prisoner to Apulia, where he 
killed himself, in despair, seven years later. 

15. Frederick II. All-Powerful, 1235. — Frederick II. 
was now at the height of his power; he had attained this 



ITALY'S SERVITUDE. 329 

position, almost without a struggle, by the sole force of 
his diplomacy. His power was dreaded abroad. The 
crusades had taken him to Jerusalem. He had married, 
in 1235, Isabella, sister of the king of England. This 
marriage procured him an ally by whom he held the king 
of France in check. He courted the friendship of Ray- 
mond VII., count of Toulouse, by investing him with the 
marquisate of Provence. But this prosperity was of short 
duration. It was Italy which aroused the greatest diffi- 
culties, and the Papacy plunged him into the abyss. 

16. The Lombard League Reorganised against the Em- 
peror. It is Overcome at Cortenuova, 1237. — In Italy the 
Lombard league, justly alarmed at the growing power of 
the emperor, had reorganised (1226). Frederick declared 
war, amidst the applause of the diet of Mainz (1235), and 
leading an army, made up solely of Swabian knights and 
Mus&ulman cavalry, he attacked and defeated its army at 
Cortenuova (April 26, 1237). The leaguers' camp was pil- 
laged; the caroccio was taken, and sent to Rome to be 
borne in triumph to the Capitol. The conqueror divided 
Lombardy into two parts, at the head of each being a 
vicar-general; salaried officers were entrusted with the im- 
perial administration and justice; but all these agents 
were chosen from among the Italian nobility. The cen- 
tralised monarchical government established in Sicily, and 
begun in Germany, was imposed on the country which had 
given impetus to the communal movement. 

17. Italy's Servitude. Gregory IX. Excommunicates 
the Emperor, 1239. — Italy enslaved would have meant the 
end of the temporal power of the Holy See. It withstood 
the emperor. The gentle, timorous Honorius III. had 
been succeeded by a fiery old man (1227), a cousin of 
Innocent III., Gregory IX. A scholarly theologian and 
eloquent orator, the octogenarian Pope opposed, from the 



330 END OF TEE EOEENSTAUFEN. 

first, the emperor. Twice he excommunicated him, be- 
cause he delayed his departure to the crusades, and he 
iollowed him with his curses to Jerusalem. It was much 
worse when Frederick declared war on the Lombard 
league. The Pope made an alliance with Venice and 
Genoa^ and finally excommunicated the emperor, under 
the pretext that he kept Sardinia, a fief of the Holy 
See, and he released his subjects from their oath of 
fealty. 

18. Triumph of Frederick II., 1241. — The organisation 
of Frederick 11. had been so skilfully built up, and his 
prestige was so great, that the pontifical sentence made 
no impression on Germany. While invading Saint 
Peter's patrimony, he named one of his natural sons, the 
beautiful Enzio, his vicar-general in Italy. He was not 
diverted from his enterprise by a terrible invasion of 
Mongols, which laid waste Hungary and Silesia, and he 
"was repeatedly successful, in Italy, during two campaigns. 
Finally Gregory IX. died, almost a centenarian, as the 
Mongolian invasion was about ending. Celestine IV., 
his successor, reigned but a fortnight. For two years the 
Church was without a head, for the cardinals were dis- 
persed, their ranks being decimated by the pest. Before 
dying Gregory IX. had convoked a council. Most of the 
prelates who were to be present went to Genoa to set 
sail, but the boats which bore them were attacked at sea, 
near the rock of Meloria, by a Pisan and Sicilian fleet. 
They were captured, and the priests of the council had to 
await under bolts and bars the emperor's good will. 

19. Frederick II. Changes his Policy. Imperial Des- 
potism. — The emperor made use of his victory to change 
the course of his policy. Until 1239 he had remained 
faithful to imperial tradition by seeking the support of 
the clergy for the Holy Roman Empire, even as against 



ALLIANCE OF FREDERICK 11. 331 

the Pope. As soon as Gregory IX. declared against him 
he broke with the Church. After Hermann de Salza's 
death (May, 1239), he gradually dismissed from his court 
the ecclesiastical members of the state; his relations with 
the Teutonic Order ceased; and he persecuted the mendi- 
cant orders. He gathered about him Neapolitan and 
Sicilian counsellors, and lawyers, like the famous minis- 
ter, Peter of Vinea, who, brought up on the principles of 
Koman law, looked at imperial power exclusively from a 
layman's point of view. For them there was but one 
chief in Christendom, the emperor; as for Frederick, there 
was no motive for action other than state reasons. 
The higher aristocracy would scarcely endure, for a long 
time, a master who was plainly aiming at absolutism. 
Frederick foresaw their desertion, and turned to the 
cities. 

20. Alliance of Frederick II. with the Cities. — They 
had developed greatly during the thirteenth century. 
Commerce, which enriched first the towns in the Ehine 
valley, penetrated into the northern regions; it had 
created a highway which passed through the Westphalian 
city of Soest and Danish LUbeck to Wisby on the Swedish 
island of Gothland, to Eiga and Novgorod in present Rus- 
sia. A national industry began to appear. Progress, 
however, was not uniform. The cities belonging to the 
lesser nobles were held in strict subordination to their 
masters; episcopal towns, as long as Frederick had to con- 
ciliate the high clergy, were restrained, yet they made 
great progress from the middle of the thirteenth century; 
but the imperial towns, covered with favours by their 
sovereign, strode forward on the way which, after some 
generations, was to bring them to independent republics. 
For them, the reign of Frederick II., especially the second 
part, was truly a golden age. The change was coldly cal- 



332 END OF TEE EOEENSTAUFEN. 

culated by Frederick. This man, bald, thin, and pnny, 
sceptical and studious, declared enemy of the popes, play- 
ing off the bourgeoisie against the feudal lords, appears 
now to us as the first of modern kings. 

21. Election of Innocent IV. The Struggle between 
Sacerdotalism and Imperialism Revives. — However, the 
situation of Christianity brought about by Frederick's 
lucky audacity could not endure long. The king of 
France feared, not unreasonably, that its prolongation 
might give to the theory of imperial omnipotence a con- 
trol that would threaten the other Catholic states, and he 
summoned the cardinals to elect a new Pope, and the 
emperor to release the French prelates taken at Meloria. 
He was obeyed, and Sinibaldo Fieschi, of the Genoese 
family of the counts of Lavagna, was elected, who 
assumed the name of Innocent IV. He was a consum- 
mate jurist, and hence seemed most capable of negotiat- 
ing with the emperor^s Sicilian statesmen. The choice 
was not displeasing to Frederick II., who knew and 
esteemed Fieschi; however, he did not deceive himself. 
He foresaw that Innocent IV. would not be his friend for 
any length of time. " A Pope,'' he said, " cannot be a 
Ghibelline! " He was right; so soon as the thorny ques- 
tions, such as Church lands and Lombard cities, were ap- 
proached, they realised that they would disagree. The 
Pope, fearing to fall into the emperor's hands, fled hastily 
to Genoa, his own country. He there ordered the assem- 
bling of the general council, which met at Lyons, an im- 
perial city, but situated on the borders of Germany and 
France, and really independent (1245). 

22. The Council of Lyons. The Emperor Excommuni- 
cated, 1245. — Three patriarchs and one hundred and forty 
bishops, mostly French and English, sat in this council, 
which was called to deliberate on three principal matters: 



THE COUNCIL OF LYONS. 333 

the schism in the Greek Church, the Kharesmian invasion 
in Palestine, and negotiations with the emperor. Actu- 
ally they were engrossed with the last question, for the 
interests of Christianity faded before those of the Papacy. 
Through his charge d'affaires the grand judge, Thaddeus 
of Suessa, Frederick vainly offered " to deliver the Holy 
Land, at his own expense, to restore to the Church of 
Eome her possessions, and indemnify the Pope." Inno- 
cent IV. refused to listen to anything, and in spite of the 
emissaries from the kings of France and England, who 
asked for a delay, he excommunicated the emperor for 
perjury, sacrilege, and heresy: " for perjury for having 
violated the immunities of the Sicilian clergy and usurped 
Church property; for sacrilege, for having abducted the 
prelates on their way to Eome; and for heresy, for having 
disregarded papal power, maintained relations with infi- 
dels, and treated with the sultan of Egypt during the 
crusade." Consequently he released subjects from their 
oath to the king, and asked the German electors to choose 
another sovereign, while he reserved to himself the right 
of disposing of the Sicilian kingdom, as a fief of the Holy 
See. The sentence resounded through Europe, which 
was, so to say, a witness for the two parties. In fact, 
while Frederick II. was trying to interest the kings in his 
cause, was trying to justify his conduct towards the rich 
and worldly Church and its ministers, " intoxicated wHh 
terrestrial joys and caring little for the Lord," was boldly 
declaring he had done " a work of charity by taking from 
such men the treasures with which they had gorged them- 
selves to their eternal damnation," the Pope was reassert- 
ing the superiority of the tiara over the Empire. '' The 
dominion which Christ founded," he wrote, " is not only 
sacerdotal, but royal; the power of the sword belongs also 
to the Church. She gives it to the emperor when she 



S34 END OF THE E0HEN8TAUFEN. 

crowns him, so that he may use it legitimately in her 
defence." 

23. Frederick II. Holds his Own in Grermany. He is 
Conquered in Italy. — ^From words they passed quickly to 
deeds. Frederick and his son Conrad, whom he had had 
elected in 1237, resisted successfully in Germany the 
rivals that were presented by the party hostile to the 
Empire. It was different in Italy. Parma, having driven 
out the imperial garrison, and taken a podesta to suit her- 
self, gave the signal for a general insurrection, which 
broke out simultaneously in Piacenza, Milan, Ferrara, 
and Mantua (1247). Frederick laid siege to Parma, and 
to show his resolution to annihilate her, he made his own 
camp a city which he called Victoria. But one day when 
he was absent, hunting, the Parmesans invaded the place, 
set fire to the wooden houses, and put the besiegers to 
flight. Soon after his beloved son Enzio was beaten and 
captured at Fossalta. The double check shook to its 
foundations the emperor's dominion in Italy. He kept 
his hold on his kingdom of Naples solely by terror. His 
best servants betrayed him. Peter of Vinea, suspected, 
not without a motive, of a secret understanding with his 
enemies, was arrested and blinded. He ended his life by 
beating his head against a pillar of the church in Pisa 
(January^ 1249). Frederick was preparing to face mis- 
fortune on all sides, when he died of dysentery at Castel 
Fiorentino, near the camp of his beloved Saracens (De- 
cember 13, 1250). 

24. End of the Hohenstanfen, 1254. Trinmpli of the 
Papacy. — This death did not soften the bitterness of the 
struggle. The Pope excommunicated Conrad IV., who 
died prematurely of fever at Lavello (May 21, 1254), leav- 
ing as his successor a child of two years, Conradin. The 
Pope invested Edmund, younger son of the king of Eng- 



END OF TEE HOHENSTAUFEN, 1254. 335 

land, with the Sicilian kingdom, and entered Naples in 
triumph. But a natural son of Frederick II., Manfred, 
incited the Saracens of Luceria to revolt, re-entered 
JSTaples, which had been hastily evacuated, and took the 
crown, though promising to leave it to young Conradin. 
For twelve years he withstood effectually all efforts to 
overthrow him, but he took no part in German affairs. 
There the important part played by the Hohenstaufen 
was forever ended. The union of Italy and the Empire 
had been made impossible, and the victory of the Papacy 
was complete. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 

THE CHEISTIAN AND MUSSULMAN OKIENT FROM THE 
SEVENTH TO THE ELEVENTH CENTUEY.* 

1. Place of the Greek Empire in the History of Civilisa- 
tion. — During the four centuries which elapsed between 
the death of Heraclius (641) and the accession of Isaac 
I. of the Comneni (1057), three principal reigning houses 
succeeded one another in Constantinople: the Isaurian, 
Armenian, and Macedonian, founded by Leo III. (717- 
741), Leo V. (813-820), and Basil I. (867-886) respectively. 
The beginning and end of these families were sanguinary. 
They ordered religious persecutions and suffered great 
military disasters. They seemed to struggle vainly 
in chaos, and one is inclined, as a rule, to dismiss 
them with a disdainful word, by calling the institu- 
tions and the policy of the Greek Empire, Byzantine. 
It must, however, be taken into account that the 
invasions which ended for the West in the eighth, or, 
perhaps, in the tenth century, lasted in the East down to 
the fifteenth; also that the Byzantines in the vanguard 
of the old world met the first attack of pagan and 
Mussulman invaders, whom they successfully repulsed 
more than once; and that they in their turn bore 
civilisation to the barbarians and advanced the frontiers 

* Sources, — The Byzantine Historians in the Bonn collection and 
the " Glossarium mediae et infimse graecitatis" of Du Cange. 

Literature. — Hertzbergand Drapeyron, as above; Schliimberger, 
" Nicephore Phocas"; Finlay, "History of the Byzantine Empire 
from 767 to 1453"; Bury, and Bury's Gibbon, as above. 

336 



THE FIRST BULGARIAN EMPIRE, 893-1014. 337 

!bf Christian Europe. Byzantine history is a record of 
great accomplishments. Tvfo points especially should be 
noted in it: the political and administrative system of the 
empire; and on the other hand its struggle with a foreign 
foe, whose attacks had to be met simultaneously on two 
sides: in Europe towards the Danube and the Balkans, 
and in Asia towards the Euphrates and the Taurus. 

2. The Slavs in Greece. — On the frontier along the 
Danube the Slavs established themselves first. They soon 
spread throughout the Balkan peninsula and into the' 
Peloponnesus. After a terrible pest, which devastated 
the Empire and decimated Constantinople (v49), the em- 
perors repeopled the desolate countries with Slavic 
families, so that it has been asserted that Greece became 
entirely Slavic, and that to-day in the veins of the Hel- 
lenes there is not a drop of Grecian blood. The state- 
ment is a bold one, for it is certain that, at that period, 
Athens, for instance, was intact with her national popu- 
lation. 

3. The First Bulgarian Empire, 893-1014.— The Bul- 
garians came and settled themselves down in the midst of 
the Slavs. Tirnovo, Yarna, Silistria were their principal 
cities. At their head was a khan, assisted by chiefs of the 
six principal tribes of the nation. Like a true Oriental 
prince, this khan had a harem; at table he always ate 
alone; his courtiers took their repasts at a distance frc^m 
him, seated on chairs or crouching on their heels. AVar 
was the principal occupation of the people; cowardice, 
disobedience, and neglect of horses and weapons were 
punished most severely. Money was so rare, even in the. 
tenth century, that cattle formed the main means of barter. 
The neighbourhood of the Slavs left an indelible impres- 
sion upon them, by making them forget their Finnish 
speech; but it did not alter their savage customs, and for 



338 THE CHRISTIAN AND MUSSULMAN ORIENT. 

three centuries they were the terror of the Empire in those 
parts. After repeated victories, one of their khans, 
Simeon (893-907), assumed the title of tsar (Caesar) of the 
Bulgarians and "autocrat" of the Eomans. Another, 
Boris II., invaded Macedonia and Thessaly, and only 
stopped before Corinth, which he could not take (981). 
The Emperor Basil II., surnamed the Killer of Burgun- 
dians (BulgarocMone), arrested these dangerous invaders, 
after having inflicted on them in 1014 a signal defeat at 
Kimbalougon (Dermirhissar). It is said that in order to 
frighten the defeated, he had the eyes of fifteen thousand 
prisoners put out, and then had them led home in groups 
of one hundred, by one of their number who had lost but 
one eye. After this exploit he pushed back again the 
northern frontier of the empire to the Danube. 

4. Hungarians and Russians. — Under Leo the Philos- 
opher (886-913) the Hungarians lived along the shore of 
the Black Sea, between the Bug and Sereth rivers. The 
emperor called in their chief, Arpad, against the Bul- 
garians. Their reckless courage, which they had learned 
to control by severe discipline, was renowned. The}^ were 
not long in replacing the Avars in the midst of the Slavs, 
who were henceforth divided and powerless. Finally the 
Scandinavians, conquerors of Eussian Slavonia, appeared 
in their turn, attracted by the renown for splendour which 
Constantinople shed throughout the Orient. One of tlsir 
chiefs, Igor, appeared under the walls of the city of the 
Caesars, — Tsarigard, as they called it, — and was only 
stopped by Greek fire, which destroyed his fleet. 

5. Conversion of the Barbarians to Greek Christianity. 
— The Empire was not content to combat these ever- 
increasing enemies; it wished to convert them. Monas- 
teries built towards the end of the ninth century on the 
summits and in the valleys of Mount Athos provided 



TEE EMPIRE THREATENED BY NORMANS. 339 

zealous missionaries, who continued, on the south of the 
Balkans, the work of civilisation that Cyril and Me- 
thodius had pursued on the north of the Danube in the 
ninth century. Vladimir's marriage (972-1015) with 
Anne, sister of Basil II., determined the conversion of 
this prince and of the Eussian people. The metropolitan 
of Kieff was placed under the authority of the patriarch 
of Constantinople, and Eussia became a dependence of the 
Empire. 

6. The Greek Empire Endures in Asia Minor until the 
Eleventh Century. — Vital changes did not begin in Asia 
Minor until the eleventh century. The antique termi- 
nology was still kept in the tenth century, but the popula- 
tion had gradually changed through an admixture of 
Goths, Bulgarians, Persians, and Arabs, whom the em- 
perors had received willingly or transported forcibly. 
Elsewhere the Armenians had yielded to annexation, in 
spite of the schism which divided them from the ortho- 
dox Church, for, in their eyes, the Empire was holy and 
immortal. But the loss of their independence weakened 
them and made them incapable of resisting the Mussul- 
mans. 

7. The Maritime Front of the Empire Threatened by 
Kormans and Arabs. — These Mussulmans were the most 
dreaded enemies of Byzantium, not only because of their 
military resources, but more especially because of their 
defiance of Christianity. In the ninth century, in Spain, 
Mussulmans conquered the Balearics and Sardinia. A 
Greek officer in Sicily, disaffected with the court, gave up 
Palermo to the sultan of Kairouan (827), and one century 
later the conquest of the island was completed. During 
this time pirates seized Crete and threatened the mari- 
time front of the Empire; they were not dislodged until 
^61. Because of the decadence of the caliphate of Bag- 



340 THE CHRISTIAN AND MUSSULMAN ORIENT. 

dad^ the Byzantines obtained a respite for at least a cen- 
tury from the Mussulmans, but the Normans were as 
fierce and more successful adversaries. They seized 
southern Italy entire; even under Eobert Guiscard they 
began repeated expeditions along the Illyrian coast, con- 
tending for the possession of the Adriatic with the em- 
perors, so as to open an overland route to Constan- 
tinople. 

8. Despotism Imperative for the Greek Empire. — Such 
was the situation outside the Empire, which was, more- 
over, made up of diverse peoples and surrounded by unre- 
liable vassal states. Nature having refused it unity: it 
sought it in the strength of its government, which neces- 
sarily became a despotism. Justinian had drawn up its 
rules, his successors continued and perfected his work. 
His Institutes were translated into Greek, the official lan- 
guage of the Empire since the eighth century. A new 
code, the Basilica, was promulgated by Basil II., who was 
careful not to take the advice of the senate. These em- 
perors surrounded themselves with a brilliant court, re- 
strained by an etiquette still more complicated than in 
Justinian's time. 

Their despotism, however, was tempered by two prin- 
cipal causes; the uncertainty of the succession and the 
power of the Church. 

9. The Succession to the Throne Unprovided for. The 
" Disease of the Purple." — The law was silent, in fact, on 
the way in which the crown should be transmitted. Like 
the consulate in 'the time of theEepublic,the imperial title 
was, in fact, open to all; but it was more eagerly desired 
because opportunities were less frequent and possession 
of power more desirable. What is known as the " malady 
of the purple " always raged violently at Constantinople. 
When once established, the new emperor would try to 



QUARREL OF THE ICONOCLASTS. 341 

secure the succession to his own family; the Isaurians fol- 
lowed the old systems of adoption and association with 
the throne; the Macedonians at once associated all their 
family with them. After Basil I., the sons of emperors, 
in order to rule conjointly, must ha\^e been born in the 
palace, in the so-called purple hall (porphyra) at Con- 
stantinople, and all his descendants took the name of 
" phyrogenete," which his grandson, Constantine VII., 
made illustrious. This title raised the imperial dignity. 
The term apostasy was used to brand both political felony 
and religious heresy, which were punished with excommu- 
nication and anathema. But these spiritual weapons were 
not sufficient to prevent revolutions, the supreme re- 
source of peoples against despots. 

10. Power of the Church. — In it: sphere the Church 
was very powerful, and would not allow its customs and 
usages to be disturbed. The war of the Iconoclasts is a 
memorable illustration of this fact. 

11. Quarrel of the Iconoclasts. — There were traces of 
paganism in popular customs, after it had ceased to be 
generally practised. Images of false gods had been pro- 
scribed, but the churches were filled with images of the 
Christ, of his mother " the all holy " (Panaghia), of saints 
and martyrs; all reproduced in sculpture, mosaic, or paint- 
ing. During the sixth century they had disputed the 
divinity of Christ and his attributes, in the eighth they 
quarrelled over the worship of images. Leo III., the 
Isaurian, formally condemned it, and ordered these 
images (icones) to be displaced, then destroyed in the 
churches (728). The decrees called forth the most vio- 
lent controversy. To the ever-turbulent factions of the 
circus two others were added, that of the breakers of 
images (iconoclastes) and that of the adorers of images 
(iconodoules). The superior classes, the functionaries and 



342 THE CHRISTIAN AND MUSSULMAN ORIENT, 

the senate, some even of the clergy, upheld the decree; 
the mass of the people were against it. The government 
bore heavily on offenders; but after a century of persecu- 
tions it had made no headway. Finally the worship of 
images was reestablished in 843; the fete of orthodoxy, 
brilliantly celebrated February 19, ended the quarrel. In 
reality the state had yielded to the Church. 

12. Administration. Confusion of Civil and Military 
Powers. Tlie Themes. — At the same time a great change 
took place in the administration. The distinction which 
Diocletian and Constantine made between civil and mili- 
tary functions disappeared. During the wars of the 
seventh century the military element predominated again, 
and it triumphed in the eighth century, with Leo the Isau- 
rian. At that time theEmpire was divided into many small 
provinces, or themes, with a military administration; at the 
head of each' one of these a 5ira^e^w5,directly dependent on 
the emperor, commanded the legions and the civil admin- 
istration. With him, the protonotarii filled the office of 
supreme judge and directed the finances; lower in rank 
were the turmarchs, or leader of districts, the kleisurarclis, 
or governors of fortresses, etc. The strategus belonged 
to the nobility, and bore the title of proconsul or of 
patrician. The cities lost under Leo VI. the Philosopher 
the last vestiges of their municipal autonomy. 

13. Finances and Army. — The finances and the army 
were, as everywhere else, high public departments. The 
impost was determined as in the time of the ancient Em- 
pire. Byzantine money (the besant) was scattered 
throughout the Orient, and facilitated business transac- 
tions which brought the Greeks into frequent relations 
with the Mussulmans, Italians, Bulgarians, and Russians. 
The army was composed of the infantry of the legions, or 
ihemata, and mainly of mercenaries. These were drawa 



GREEK LITERATURE AT BYZANTIUM. 343 

Irom all parts, but especially from the north. By the 
middle of the tenth century there were at Constantinople 
troops of Varangians, Danes, and Icelanders, who lent to 
the Greek Empire an unexpected power of resistance. 
Prom a strategic and commercial point of view Constanti- 
nople was unquestionably the first city of the Empire, 
since her ancient rivals, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alex- 
andria, had been conquered by the Mussulmans, and 
Athens had sunk to the grade of a peaceful provincial city. 
After the twelfth century provincial interests were lost in 
those of the capital, and the safety of the Empire de- 
pended on its preservation. 

14. The Aristocracy Tends to Become Feudal. — The 
aristocracy was changed. After the seventh century the 
large landed interests were modified under cover of the 
general disturbances, and especially after the suppression 
of the collective responsibility of the curials. In contact 
with the West, the nobility gradually assumed a feudal 
character; yet it never succeeded in plaving an important 
political role. Down to the end, the Byzantine Empire 
remained an absolute and centralised government. 

15. Greek Literature at Byzantium. — It continued also 
Eoman traditions in literature, art, and teaching. The 
Byzantines never lost their taste for learning; instruction 
was always honoured in the great families. Under the 
Macedonian princes there was an attempt made to simplify 
its acquirement by condensing the sum total of human 
knowledge into vast compilations. There were some uni- 
versal scholars, like Photius, who knew thoroughly the 
seven arts, jurisprudence, medicine, and even the occult 
sciences. Emperors won their place in the first rank of 
scholars; Leo the Philosopher was a pupil of Photius. 
His son, Constantine VIL, was so passionate a lover of 
study, all his life, that he almost forgot to reign. He re- 



344 TEE CHRISTIAN AND MUSSULMAN ORIENT. 

organised popular teaching, and revived extensive literary 
and artistic undertakings. Shut up in his library, he 
too became an author: he wrote a life of his ancestor, 
Basil I., an account of the translation of Saint Chrysos- 
tom's relics, and valuable treatises, for us, on Byzantine 
ceremonies, and the themes and administration of the Em- 
pire. It was the period when Simeon the Translator 
made a vast collection of lives of Greek saints; when 
Suidas compiled a dictionary of biography, history, and 
geography, which affords us precious information on the 
men and customs of antiquity; and when the chronicles of 
Genesios, Theophanes, and George Monachos were taken 
up and continued. In the eleventh century, in the de- 
cline of the brilliant Macedonian dynasty, Constantinople 
could proudly claim Michael Psellos, an admired pro- 
fessor, a writer incredibly versatile and prolific; and his 
friend and fellow-student Xiphilin, who has done us the 
service of acquainting us with the " Histories " of Dion 
Cassius, in an abridged form. 

16. Byzantine Art. — Art kept pace with literature and 
the sciences. Architectural styles varied little from the 
sixth to the eleventh century, but the art of building 
was understood. Mosaics were successfully used, which 
held their own in interior decorations. True artists 
sculptured on ivory and illuminated manuscripts. How- 
ever, originality was the one quality lacking in most of 
the artists, historians, and writers. They worked too 
much according to the f ormuLie come down to them from 
antiquity, instead of looking at Nature and her living 
examples; and writers spent the better part of their time 
in compiling from the works of their predecessors. 
Byzantium is antiquity which has outlived itself, yet has 
not been rejuvenated. 

There were three important events which took place 



THE GREEK SCHISM. 345 

in the middle of the eleventh century which affected the 
destinies of the Oriental world: (1) the separation of the 
Greek and Latin churches; (2) the accession to the throne 
of provincial aristocracy in the dynasties of the Comneni 
and Ducas; and (3) the establishment of the Turks in 
Asia Minor. 

17. The Greek Schism. Photius, 867, and Michael Cem- 
larius, 1054. — The two churches had had misunderstand- 
ings for a long time. They spoke two different languages; 
they were not imbued by the same spirit; the pretensions 
of the bishops of Rome and the patriarch of Constanti- 
nople to supreme power were irreconcilable. When Lea 
the Isaurian promulgated his decree against images, Pope 
Gregory III. protested (732), and the Italians upheld 
him. A more serious incident took place in the following 
century. In 861 Bardas, the uncle and all-powerful min- 
inster of Michael III., expelled Ignatius, patriarch of Con- 
stantinople, and put Photius in his place. He was a lay- 
man, whose science had earned for him the position of 
first secretary of state. He was hastily ordained, and in 
six days passed through the degrees of the ecclesiastical 
hierarchy. Ignatius not submitting, an embassy, bearing 
costly presents, set off to win the consent of the Pope to 
Photius's elevation. Nicholas I. was then reigning; he 
declared that Ignatius should be judged by the Pope only, 
his superior in the hierarchy; and he deposed Photius, 
who retaliated by condemning, in a council assembled at 
Constantinople, presided over by the emperor, certain 
customs and opinions of the Western Church. At last a 
revolution overthrew the interloper patriarch, and unity 
was reestablished. But the ^' schism of Photius " left a 
rift in the two churches, which ended in 1054 in a com- 
plete break. At this date, the Pope having intervened 
in the ecclesiastical situation of lower Italy, which Lea 



546 TEE CHRISTIAN AND MUSSULMAN ORIENT. 

the Isaurian had formerly withdrawn from the jurisdic- 
tion of the bishop of Eome, there was a pretext for a fresh 
"Conflict. Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constanti- 
nople, renewed the quarrels of Photius, but in a more 
petty spirit. Added to this, papal envoys asserted so 
haughtily the universal supremacy of the bishop of 
Eome that the patriarch refused to negotiate with him. 
Hildebrand's views struck harshly on the ears of those 
who considered themselves the legitimate heirs of the 
Homan Empire. From that date the rupture was defi- 
nite. It isolated Constantinople, whicli was henceforth 
easier prey for the barbarians. 

18. Provincial Aristocracy. Comnenus and Dncas. — 
Some years later the Macedonian d3rQasty, which had 
reigned so brilliantly, died out in vice and intrigues 
{1056). Isaac Comnenus took possession of the throne. 
He was of an old noble family which owned extensive 
property in Asia Minor. He represented the accession of 
aristocracy to power, but an aristocracy of the same 
model as Western feudalism, and which, like this, would 
l^ecome an obstruction to the imperial government. 
Isaac chose as his successor the head of the house of 
Ducas, as powerful and ambitious as his own. He had 
-associated with him in the throne, it is true, his nephew, 
Alexis I., but he only succeeded to the Empire by over- 
throwing the usurper Nicephorus (1081). 

19. Glorious Reign of Alexis I. — Fresh misfortunes 
liad befallen the Empire during the disorders of those 
forty years. Alexis I. gloriously retrieved the faults of 
liis predecessors. In the West he held his own with 
Eobert Guiscard, who finally withdrew. From the north 
the Petchenegs, a people of Turkish origin, had crossed 
the Danube and invaded the Serb country. He subdued 
them after six years of warfare, pushed them back to the 



PROGRESS OF SELJUKS IN ASIA MINOR. 347 

north of the river, and reestablished imperial authority 
in the Balkan peninsula. 

20. Progress of the Seljuks in Asia Minor. They Take 
Nicaea. — The situation was more critical in Asia. Alp 
Arslan, nephew and successor of Togrul-Beg, took Ar- 
menia, whose inhabitants fled mostly into Cilicia, in order 
to build up an independent kingdom there. Then Malek 
Shah (1072-1092) settled in the very heart of Asia Minor, 
and acquired legal possession of his conquests from an 
insurgent Ducas. Nica^a fell into the hands of the infi- 
dels, and from Constantinople could be seen on the oppo- 
site shore of the Bosphorus the cameFs-hair tents of the 
Turks. Fortunately, the latter had no navy, and the Em- 
pire's capital was not insulted; but the danger was immi- 
nent, and Alexis spared no efforts to interest the West in 
the safety of the Empire. The first crusade brought him 
opportunely the needed help. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE CRUSADES.* 

The crusades were religious wars. They were the of- 
fensive movements of the followers of the Cross against 
those of the Crescent. At the same time they were 
defensive wars of the West against the dangers with which 
Europe was threatened by the Turks. 

1. Sciences and Commerce Bring the Orient and the 
Occident Nearer Together. — The two religions and the 
two worlds clashed for the first time in the seventh 
century. 

Christianity at first drew back before Mohammedanism, 
master of the entire southern Mediterranean; then, dat- 
ing from the second half of the eighth century, the 
perpetual warfare was succeeded by possible intercourse 

* Sources. — The first collection of historians of the Crusades was 
published by Bongars: " Gresta Dei per Francos " (1611). Most of 
these texts are better edited in the " Recueil des Historiens des 
Croisades," published by the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles 
Lettres (in course of publication). Count Riant: "Inventaire critique 
des Lettres Historiques de la premiere Croisade " (1880). See also 
the series of publications of the " Societe de I'Orient Latin." 
Reinaud: " Extraits des Historiens Arabes relatifs aux Guerres des 
Croisades " (1829). " Assises de Jerusalem "; edition Beugnot (1841- 
44; 3 vols., folio). 

Literature. — H. v. Sybel, " Geschichte des ersten Kreuzziiges," 
second edition; Kugler, " Geschichte der Kreuzztige "; Prutz, " Kul- 
turgeschichte der Kreuzztige"; Heyd, " Histoire du Commerce du 
Levant au Moyen Age"; Dodu, "Histoire des Institutions Mo- 
narchiques dans le Royaume Latin de Jerusalem "; Pears, " The Fall 
of Constantinople"; Gray, "The Children's Crusade." 

34S 



VENICE. 349 

'between these mortal enemies. Commerce and science 
drew them together. Through the Arabs the West was 
brought into touch with antique Greek culture. Elsewhere 
the Arabs traded with India and China; the wares of the 
extreme East came over the Red Sea into Egypt, and 
were thence transported to Italian and Greek ports. 
Constantinople, admirably situated on the frontier of 
Europe and Asia, to be an intermediary for the two 
continents, was, in the time of H'aroun-al-Raschid and the 
decadence of the caliphate, an important international 
market. The Mussulmans had their mosque in Constan- 
tinople in 1049. Eome received the rich woollen and 
silk stuffs, the hangings and carpets of the Orient. 

2. Development of Italian Cities through Oriental 
Trade. — Some cf the cities of southern Italy — Bari, 
Salerno, Amalfi — \\^hich were unimportant until then, 
became amazingly prosperous because of this active trade; 
but they were soon harmed by the conquests of the 
Saracens in Sicily and along the Italian coast. Others, 
whose situations protected them from the infidels, — Pisa, 
Genoa, and Venice, — were more fortunate. They profited 
by commerce and war. In the eleventh century Pisa 
took Sardinia from the Saracens, then Bona and Mehdia, 
in Africa. Genoa had a similar development. 

3. Venice. — Venice was founded at the time of the 
great invasions; the islands in her lagoons afforded safe 
shelter to the inhabitants driven from the mainland by 
the barbarians. She was subject to Byzantium, but dis- 
tance and the fear that the Venetians might acknowledge 
the suzerainty of Italians, Lombards, Carolingians, or 
Germans, induced the emperors to allow the city to 
govern herself as she saw fit. As early as 700 her dukes, 
or doges, were elected by the people. Some among her 
citizens wished to keep on good terms with Constanti- 



350 THE CRUSADES. 

nople, in order to have the markets of the Levant open to 
them; others advised an alliance with their neighbours, 
so as to be able to dispose, in Europe, of the wares 
accumulated in their store-houses. The two policies 
prevailed alternatively. With admirable skill the Vene- 
tians negotiated with the one as if they were sovereigns, 
yet they did not lose their hold on the other; they soon 
became adepts in diplomacy and commerce. After the 
destruction of the pirates of Croatia, Venice controlled 
the Adriatic. She served Alexis I. faithfully against 
liobert Guiscard, and was given in return extended privi- 
leges. Her merchants " could buy and sell in all parts 
of the Greek Empire unmolested by agents of the custom- 
houses, finances, and harbours; the latter were forbidden 
to inspect their merchandise, or to subject them to any 
tax whatsoever.^' This measure placed the Venetians 
suddenly above competition. 

4. Disturbances Caused by the Seljuks' Invasions. — 
The success of the Seljuks in Syria aroused consternation 
in business affairs. Besides being masters of Jerusalem 
(1076), they profaned the holy places, scenes of the birth, 
and preaching, and martyrdom of Jesus Christ. 

5. Pilgrimagres to the Holy Sepulchre in the Eleventh 
Century. Peter the Hermit. — Until then Christians had 
been tolerated there; pilgrims had been allowed free 
access to the place, and they had come in crowds. In 
1014 they brought the money necessary to rebuild the 
Holy Sepulchre, torn down by Caliph Hakim. In 1026 
Hichard of Normandy came on a pilgrimage, at the head 
of seven hundred armed pilgrims. Several years later the 
number of pilgrims was so great that wise men in Europe 
thought that the Day of Judgment was approaching. 
As soon as the Turks were masters of the holy places and 
the routes leading to them, the situation changed; 



THE POPES AND THE CRUSADES. 351 

Jerusalem was reached only at the price of great dan- 
gers. In 1094 a monk, a native of Amiens, Peter the 
Hermit, made the attempt, but failed in it. The accounts- 
brought back by the pilgrims in Italy and France, of the 
persecutions endured by Christians in Palestine, fired the 
imaginations of their listeners and aroused in them a 
mad thirst for vengeance. 

6. The Mussulmans' New Advance in Spain. Zalacca, 
1085. — Spain at this same time was the theatre of events 
which spread terror among the Christians. The king- 
doms of Leon and N^avarre, and Castile and Aragon, had 
been formed there at the expense of the Arabs. In 1085 
Toledo fell into the hands of the Christians; but then a 
fresh horde of Mussulmans, the wild Almoravids, came ta 
the assistance of their fellow-worshippers, and in 1087 
gained an important victor}^ near Zalacca. The Christian 
kingdoms were invaded, and it was feared that the 
Pyrenees might not prove impassable. The capture of 
Jerusalem, then of Antioch, by the Turks, in the East,, 
then the battle of Zalacca in the West, are the principal 
events which determined the crusades. By preaching 
them the Papacy echoed the feeling of all Christianity. 

7. The Popes and the Crusades. The Council of Cler- 
mont, 1095, — The thought was not a new one. Gregory 
VII., as has already been seen, planned to lead a Christian 
army to aid Jerusalem. A French Pope, Urban II., took 
up the plan in a council which met in Auvergne, at 
Clermont, in mid-winter (1095). Having settled several 
important questions and solemnly proclaimed the Peace 
and the Truce of God, the Pope preached the holy war, 
in the presence of his prelates and a vast crowd. To the 
cry of, "God wills it!" all— peasants, citizens, knights, 
priests and monks, rich and poor — swore to set out to 
deliver the tomb of Christ. They were promised the 



352 THE CRUSADES. 

Churches benediction, remission of the penalties of purga- 
tory, relief from debts, and the protection of their 
property during their absence. Their emblem was a red 
cross worn on the right shoulder. The enthusiasm spread 
through France and reached Italy, England, and the 
Scandinavian countries. The departure was set for the 
15th of August of the following year. The bishop of 
Puy, Adhemar of Monteil, headed the expedition. 

8. The Popular Crusade Fails, 1096. — Passions may be 
easily unchained, but it is difficult to control them. 
Before the lords had completed their preparations, the 
lower classes set forth. A horde of poor men, with 
women and children, followed, towards the East, Peter 
the Hermit, whom the}^ looked upon as a prophet. 
Another crusader, Walter the Penniless, joined him with 
a similar troop. They crossed Southern Germany, pillag- 
ing the country to subsist, and massacring the Jews, to be 
pleasing in the eyes of the Lord; but, in Hungary, they 
were attacked and killed in gTeat numbers by the in- 
habitants; the remainder barely reached Constantinople. 
A second horde of pilgrims, — French, Flemish, English, 
and German, — more than two hundred thousand strong, 
took the same route under the leadership of the viscount 
of Melun and Emich, count of Leiningen; it met the 
6ame fate. In spite of the advice of the emperor and the 
prayers of Peter the Hermit, those who remained would 
not linger for the feudal army; they crossed the Bos- 
phorus and were massacred by the Turks. Only a few 
thousand succeeded in getting back to Constantinople. 

9. The Crusade of the Princes. Four Armies Meet at 
Constantinople, 1096. — In the meanwhile the feudal 
army moved in four divisions: the first, commanded by 
Raymond of Saint-Gilles, count of Toulouse, went over- 
land through Lombardy and Dalmatia; the second, under 



CRUSADERS CONSENT TO DO HOMAGE. 353 

Godfrey of Bouillon^ duke of Lower Lorraine, and his two 
brothers, Eustace and Baldwin, passed through Germany, 
maintaining the strictest discipline, won the King of 
Hungary with smooth speech, and were unmolested by 
the Bulgarians; the Normans in Italy then followed with 
Bohemond of Tarentum, son of Robert Guiscard, and his 
nephew Tancred, after having passed through Epirus, 
Macedonia, and Thrace; the French embarked at Brin- 
disi and took about the same route as the Normans. 
They were led by Robert, duke of Normandy, the counts 
of Brittany, Flanders, and Chartres; their chief, Hugh of 
Yermandois, brother of the king of France, had preceded 
them so as to get the standard of Saint Peter at Rome. 
No king had been willing to take part in the expe- 
dition. 

10. The Crusaders Consent to Bo Homage to the Em- 
peror Alexis. — The first comers had been joyfully re- 
ceived by Alexis; but gradually the number ofdKiisaders 
increased so that he began to be afraid. Six hundred 
thousand armed men at the gates of the capital seeriied 
to him, not unreasonably, more terrifying than the Turks 
encamped on the opposite shores of the Bosphorus; how- 
ever, before getting rid of them he wished to make use 
of them. He agreed to assist them only on condition that 
the crusaders, if they were victorious, should give back to 
him what had belonged to the Empire in Asia Minor, and 
even in Syria, and therefore he asked the crusaders to 
take the oath of faith and homage to him. Some of their 
number agreed at once, but Godfrey of Bouillon refused 
to perform what he called a cowardly act; he wished to 
negotiate with the emperor as an equal. Bohemond was 
more accommodating, he did homage, but let it be under- 
stood that he would keep Antioch for himself, should it 
"be taken. The amiable and vain Hugh of Vermandois 



354 THE CRUSADES. 

succeeded in repressing these premature ambitions, and 
in settling the differences. Then the crusaders solemnly 
acknowledged the emperor as suzerain; they promised to 
give up to him the cities of Asia Minor which the empire 
had lost. On the other hand the leaders were over- 
whelmed with presents, then were induced, one after the 
other, and with difficulty, to cross the Bosphorus; and the 
Greek Empire was relieved of this new invasion. 

11. Conquest of Jerusalem, 1097-1099. — It took the 
crusaders two and one half years to go from the shores 
of the Propontis to Jerusalem. The capture of Mcaea 
(June, 1097) and the battle of Dorylaeum (July) gave 
Asia Minor into their hands. They crossed the Taurus 
at the price of the greatest exhaustion. Antioch was 
taken by surprise after a long siege and turned over to 
Bohemond, who had an understanding with some of those 
in the city. Blockaded in the city by an army of the 
caliph of Mosul, the Christians were finally delivered by 
an unexpected victory, and could at last enter the Holy 
Land, where Jerusalem had just been taken from the 
Turks by the caliph of Egypt (July, 1098). Of the six 
hundred thousand men said to have met under the walls 
of Constantinople there remained scarcely fifty thousand, 
shattered and ill; but when they came in sight of the 
city where Christ had lived and died, all their sufferings 
were forgotten, and they fell on their knees, with an im- 
pulse of faith and enthusiasm. The first attack was re- 
pulsed. It was necessary to build movable towers to 
reach the summit of the wall; finally, after a siege of 
forty days, the crusaders entered the city through a 
breach, to the cry of, "God wills it! God wills it!"" 
(July 15, 1099). There was a horrible massacre, in whicK 
seventy thousand Mussulmans are said to have perished. 
After another victory at Ascalon^ the crusaders thought 



WEAKNESS OF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. 355 

they had forever rescued the tomb of Christ from the 
infidels. 

12. Results of the First Crusade. — The lives of more 
than five hundred thousand men and prodigious sums of 
money had been expended in the first crusade; yet it bore 
vast results. The eastern shore of the Mediterranean had 
been almost everywhere wrested from the Mohammedans; 
the Greek Empire indeed recovered Nicaea and a third of 
Asia Minor; Bohemond and his Normans were settled in 
Antioch and Baldwin of Flanders in Edessa; Syria, once 
more Christian, could thus cover the small Armenian 
kingdom of Taurus and threaten the Seljuks by way of 
the Euphrates. Godfrey of Bouillon was given the direc- 
tion of the newly formed kingdom of Palestine; he 
refused to wear the crown of gold, there where Christ 
had been crowned with thorns, and he was content with 
the more modest title of Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre. 
In the cities of the coast the Genoese and Pisans opened 
counting-houses which rivalled those of the Venetians in 
the Greek Empire. Islamism, that had been a permanent 
menace to Christian Europe, drew back in its turn, and 
endured attacks such as it had so often inflicted on others. 

13. Weakness of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. — Brilliant 
as it was, the victory of the Christians was fraught with 
dangers. They had to defend a kingdom more than 
twelve hundred kilometres long, and some few leagues 
wide at certain points, and rarely protected by natural 
barriers. Along this immeasurable battle front there was 
no hope of enduring peace with these fiery sectaries of 
Mohammed, whose fanaticism constantly flared up on the 
arrival of fresh hordes, turned loose on the West by 
inexhaustible Asia. To hold their own they needed 
permanent troops and continual reinforcements; and 
they needed especially to remain united under the flag 



356 THE CRUSADES. 

of Christ. Unfortunately;, the first condition was fulfilled 
in an intermittent way, and the second was almost always 
neglected. 

14. History of the Christian States of Palestine. Di- 
vision of the Subject. — The history of the Christian 
states of Palestine covers two centuries and is divided 
broadly into two periods, the first ending in the loss of 
Jerusalem (1187), and the second in the ruin of the Latin 
institutions at the end of the thirteenth century. Two 
important facts mark the first period: the rivalry of the 
Greeks and Normans, and the formation of the vast em- 
pire of the Atabeks. 

15. Ill-omened Rivalry of Greeks and Normans. — 
Eobert Guiscard's son was master of Antioch. If the 
Emperor Alexis had been willing to resign himself to the 
fact that he was independent lord of that city and the 
course of the Orontes, Bohemond would willingly have 
kept peace with the Greek emperor; but instead of re- 
straining themselves in the face of a common enemy their 
old rivalry was stimulated in Asia. In 1100 Bohemond, 
having fallen into the hands of the Turks, a new crusade, 
made up especially of Germans, planned to deliver him, 
then to march on Bagdad in order to strike at the very 
heart of the Mussulman power. They were two hundred 
and forty thousand strong; but the most deplorable re- 
verses cut down their high hopes; having taken Ancyra, 
they were overcome and almost exterminated by the Turks 
beyond the Halys. A second army, whose ranks held 
mostly Aquitanians, was destroyed near Heraclea. 
Thousands of human lives had been sacrified with no 
result; as for Bohemond, he bought his freedom at the 
price of one hundred thousand pieces of gold, in spite 
of the entreaties of Alexis, who begged to have him given 
jip to him. Henceforth his one thought was for ven- 



THE GERMAN EXPEDITION IS DESTROYED. 357 

geance on his perfidious rival. Leaving the principality 
to his nephew Tancred^ he went to Italy for reinforce- 
ments, made an alliance with Pisa and Venice, and 
besieged Durazzo (1107); but he was completely con- 
quered, and died three years later, desolate and ruined. 
The son and grandson of Alexis I. continued the struggle 
with like success; but another Norman, Eoger of Sicily, 
seized Corfu, sacked Corinth, and carried off a large 
number of silk-weavers, — who then set up their looms in 
Sicily, — and took Thebes and Euboea (1147). In order to 
repel this new invasion, the Emperor Manuel concluded, 
with the sultan of Iconium, whom he had just conquered, 
a truce of twelve years, at the very time when Christianity 
needed all her resources to repel the Mussulmans. 

16. The Atabeks. Capture of Edessa, 1144. — A new 
Turkish tribe had, in fact, replaced the Seljuks in 
Mesopotamia and Syria; its chief at that time was Im- 
adeddin Zenghi, atabek, or governor, of Mosul. He first 
took Aleppo, which was in a way the highway to Antioch 
(1128), then Edessa, the advance guard of the Christians 
beyond the Euphrates (1144). It is true that the latter 
city was retaken almost immediately, but the son of 
Zenghi, Noureddin, occupied and destroyed it the follow- 
ing year. 

17. Saint Bernard Preaches the Second Crusade. — The 
news dismayed Europe. Saint Bernard had no difficulty 
in persuading Louis VII., king of France, a knightly and 
devoted prince, to go to the crusade; he had, moreover, to 
win his pardon for violences which the Church had con- 
demned. He roused also the zeal of the lesser German 
nobility, whose enthusiasm overcame the calculating 
hesitation of their king, Conrad III. (1140). 

18. The German Expedition is Destroyed, 1147.— Al- 
though last convinced, Conrad left first. He took the 



358 TEE CRUSADES. 

land route over Hiingary and Dalmatia. He was well 
received in Constantinople, because he was an enemy of 
the N'ormans in Sicily, and Emperor Manuel had married 
a German, Bertha of Sulzbach, sister-in-law of Conrad 
III. He would not wait for the Frenchmen, and boldly 
set off for Asia Minor on the road that had been so fatal 
to the Germans in 1101. He experienced the same re- 
verses that they did, and came back to Constantinople 
when Louis VII., was about arriving there. 

19. The French Expedition in Asia Minor, 1148. — Louis 
followed neither the route of Conrad IIL, nor of Godfrey 
de Bouillon. He marched nearer the Mediterranean 
coast, so as to avoid Turkish territory; then, tired witk 
that long and painful route, at Ephesus the army turned 
boldly into the interior. It repulsed the Turks on the 
banks of the Meander, but when the mountains were 
reached it underwent the greatest sufferings; it lost its 
horses and beasts of burden from hunger and thirst. 
It was in no fighting condition when a Greek port was 
reached, Satali. The nobles and those who still had 
some money set sail for Antioch; the poor common men 
were abandoned, and became a prey to the infidels, who 
killed many and sold the rest into slavery. 

20. The Crusade Fails Before Damascus, 1148. — There 
were still enough crusaders at Antioch to warrant 
an attempt in the direction of Aleppo and the Euphrates; 
but the king of Jerusalem had made the mistake of 
quarrelling with the emir of Damascus, who had called in 
to his aid Noureddin, until then his enemy. On that 
side Jerusalem was directly threatened. Louis VII. was 
persuaded to go on to the Holy City to join the German 
king, who had just reached there by sea, with a handful 
of men. They then resolved to lay siege to Damascus, 
but the crusaders were betrayed by their own allies, and 



TEMPLABS, HOSPITALLERS, AND KNIGHTS. 359 

iiad to raise the siege without having accomplished any- 
thing. This was the end. Conrad III. left at once; 
Louis VII. only one year later. The only result of the 
crusade was to draw down upon Jerusalem itself the 
attacks of the enemy. 

21. Organisation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. — For 
half a century the kingdom of Jerusalem had progressed 
steadily. After Godfrey of Bouillon, who died at the 
early age of about thirty-eight (1100), the crown was 
worn successively by his brother, Baldwin I. (1100-1118), 
by their cousin, Baldwin II. (1118-1131), finally by the 
latter's son-in-law, Fulk of Anjou (1131-1142). Under 
these princes the Latins (the name meant all the westerners 
brought in by the crusades) conquered the cities along 
the sea-coast, which afforded them direct communication 
with Europe. The kingdom thus formed was homo- 
geneous enough, because, although there were men from 
all the countries of Europe, the French element predomi- 
nated over all others; but the organisation was unstable, 
since its principles were borrowed from the feudal regime. 
The king governed, assisted by his high officers and the 
direct vassals of the crown. Of these latter the two princi- 
pal ones were the count of Tripoli and the prince of 
Antioch, who often acted with entire independence. All 
were required to do military service, and also a certain 
number of knights and lower-class infantry (soudoyers, or 
sergeants). To this contingent, which was not very 
large, were added the permanent troops furnished by two 
celebrated orders, both religious and military, the Tem- 
plars and the Hospitallers. 

22. Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights.— 
The Templars were organised in 1119, by Hugh de Pay ens, 
to protect pilgrims and wage incessant war on the in- 
fidels; they were lodged at first in a part of the royal 



360 THE CRUSADES. 

palace at Jerusalem, near the site of the old temple:. ' 
Hence their name of "knights of the temple/' or 
Templars. The Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem 
were at first but a charitable association founded half a 
century before the first crusade; the Templars' example 
determined them doubtless to help iii the duty of caring 
for sick pilgrims and fighting the infidels; in 1130 the 
order was definitely established with that double object. 
The two orders had a similar organisation. This com- 
prised three classes of brothers: the knights, who must be 
noble; the serving brothers, who were middle-class; and 
the priests, or chaplains, who were also noble. They 
were presided over by a grand master, who was aided by 
the chapter and the high dignitaries. They were divided 
into provinces, corresponding to as many nations or differ- 
ent languages, and these were subdivided into laiUiage&y, 
made up of a certain number of individual houses or 
commanderies. The knights lived in common in these- 
commanderies, under the canons of the Augustinian 
order; they took the triple vow of personal poverty, obedi- 
ence, and chastity. This permanent militia rendered im- 
portant services and became very rich. They owned, in 
the Holy Land, many castles, built according to the best 
rules of military science, and with the modifications that 
the nature of the climate demanded. Toward the end 
of the twelfth century, during the third crusade, another 
order was formed on the model of the older ones, the 
German or Teutonic Order (1191); but it did not have time 
to accomplish much in Palestine, and was soon sent else- 
where on quite a di^erent crusade, directed against the 
pagan Slavs in Prussia. 

23. Administration of Cities. — The cities had a popula- 
tion of Europeans and Orientals, who lived peaceably 
together, as a rule. Intermarriages were frequent 



RELIGIOUS TOLERATION. 361 

among them; the children born of these unions speedily 
acquired the customs of the country. They were grouped 
in communities governed, in the name of the lord, by 
viscounts. The viscount was responsible for the admin- 
istration of justice, levied the taxes for the seigniorial 
revenues, of which he rendered an account every three 
months, and directed the police. Besides these, the large 
cities, and especially those of the seaboard, included com- 
mercial colonies. These formed so many communes, 
which were assigned a certain quarter, and had their own 
administration within the city. 

24. Justice. — Justice was dispensed in two distinct lay 
courts: the high court, made up of knights who, under the 
presidency of the king, judged all feudal cases; and the 
court of commoners, made up of twelve jurors who, 
under the presidency of the viscount, judged civil cases. 
Commercial suits were carried before a tribunal called 
the Fonde, made up of six jurymen, four of whom were 
natives and two Franks; maritime suits were tried before 
that of the Chaine. This judicial organisation was more 
complete than any of those existing in Europe. Legis- 
lation, which was based on the purest French law, was 
revised, especially in the thirteenth century, by learned 
jurists, whose decisions and books were the foundation of 
what is known as the Assizes of Jerusalem. 

25. Religious Toleration. — There was a surprising 
variety of religions in this state. Representatives of 
Christian dissenting sects, whom the Byzantine emperors 
had persecuted, were found in the Holy Land; they were 
Armenians, Jacobites, Nestorians, etc. They acknowl- 
edged at least the nominal supremacy of the Roman 
Church, and lived peacefully side by side. In the Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre, at Jerusalem, the Syrians owned 
the so-called Chapel of the Cross; the Jacobites, that of 



S62 TEE CRUSADES. 

Saint James; the Greeks had an altar placed between the 
choir of the Latin canons and the shrine of the Holy 
Sepulchre. All these different forms of worship seemed 
reconciled with one another, beside the cradle of the 
Christian religion. Hence this kingdom of Jerusalem 
was truly an original organisation. The Franks had 
adapted themselves very quickly to the customs of the 
country; agriculture and commerce were favoured callings. 
A field for prosperous colonisation had opened to the 
unfortunate and discontented of old Europe. But in- 
subordination among the feudal nobles, a too rapid suc- 
cession of kings, the successful enterprises of Noureddin 
and his successors, all tended to cut short this brilliant 
development. 

26. The Christians Cannot Govern Themselves. Cap- 
ture of Jerusalem by Saladin, 1187. — Scarcely had the 
Christian kings of the second crusade returned to Europe, 
when Noureddin advanced. He subdued the country 
Tinder the emir of Damascus, and reached the sea between 
Antioch and Tripoli, thus cutting off the principality 
from the remainder of the Latin states. Then his 
nephew, Saladin, made himself master of Egypt after the 
death of the Fatimate caliph Aladel (1171); the kingdom 
of Jerusalem was then threatened on all points of her 
frontier by the saine enemy. The situation was becom- 
ing critical, and there remained but one mistake to be 
made. The Latin chiefs committed it. On the death of 
Baldwin V. (1186) the crown was contested by Eaymond, 
count of Tripoli, and Sibyl, mother of Baldwin V., who 
liad just married her second husband, Guy of Lusignan. 
Sibyl was at Jerusalem; she hastened to have her 
husband crowned. Raymond, outraged at what he. 
iermed a usurpation, made an alliance with Saladin, and 
'delivered to him the city of Tiberias. The following year 



THE GERMAN EXPEDITION DESTROYED. 365 

a rich Mussulman caravan, in which was a sister of Sala- 
din, was pillaged by Raymond of Chatillon, lord of Krak. 
Saladin demanded satisfaction, which the king did not 
dare exact from his fierce vassal. Saladin thereupon 
declared that he would seek it himself, and proclaimed a 
holy war. The two armies met at Hittin, near the Lake 
of Tiberias (July 4, 1187). It was a disaster for the Chris- 
tians: more than two hundred Templars were killed; 
King Guy was made prisoner; the wood of the real Cross, 
which they had carried with them in the midst of the 
fight, fell into the hands of the conquerorr. Saladin 
marched straight to the cities on the coast, which opened 
their gates to him without resistance except Tyre, saved 
in time by Conrad of Montferrat. Jerusalem, blockaded 
September 20, resisted but twelve days. Saladin, eager 
to occupy the city, gave the inhabitants their lives and 
allowed them to leave with a part of their precious goods. 
The following year Guy of Lusignan himself was set at 
liberty, and a truce of seven months was arranged between 
the Saracens and the Christians. 

27. The Third Crusade. The Saladin Tithe.— The newR 
of the taking of Jerusalem aroused joy among the Mus- 
sulmans and consternation throughout the Western 
nations. A third crusade was preached by the arch- 
bishop of Tyre. Philip Augustus, king of France, Richard 
the Lion-Hearted, king of England, and Frederick I., king 
of Germany, took the cross. The Pope granted them 
a tax of a tenth of all property, even that of the clergy; 
this is known as the Saladin tithe. 

28. The German Expedition Destroyed. Death of 
Frederick Barbarossa, 1190. — The Germans were the first 
to start. Frederick Barbarossa took the same route that 
Conrad III. had done, not wishing to incur the danger.^ 
of a sea voyage; moreover, he expected to pass quickly 



S64 THE CRUSADES. 'H 

through Asia Minor, since the sultan of Iconinm was at " 
war with Saladin. But a revolution had just occurred at 
Constantinople: a great-grandson of Alexis I., Isaac 
Angelus, the head of an ancient noble family in Asia, 
had seized the throne in 1185. He feared the Germans 
and made an alliance with Saladin, agreeing to harass 
Frederick I. as much as possible. The latter had to 
threaten to take Constantinople before Isaac would con- 
cede anything. Frederick could at last cross the Helles- 
pont (March, 1190), but the delay in his progi-ess, caused 
by the Greeks, had compromised the fate of the expedi- 
tion; the sultan of Iconium had been deposed by his sons. 
One of them lured the Germans with false promises, then 
suddenly allied himself with Saladin. From that time 
on ever}^ step forward was at the price of suffering and 
unheard-of losses. However, they succeeded in taking 
Iconium, after a great victory; so they could cross the 
mountains and reach the basin of the Seleph (ancient 
Calycadnus). The emperor, impatient to cross the 
stream, urged in his horse, but he was drawn down by the 
current and drowned. The same waters that had almost 
cost the great Alexander his life were fatal to the great 
emperor. His death completed the ruin of the army, 
which had already lost its horses, baggage, a-nd most of 
its effective force. It was but the shadow of itself when, 
under the orders of the duke of Saxony, a younger son of 
the emperor, it reached Antioch. Some thousands only 
had courage enough to push on to Acre, which had been 
in a state of siege since the preceding month of August. 

29. Siege and Capture of Acre by the Crusaders, 1191. — 
Those who reached Acre first came from the most distant 
parts, the Danes and the Frisians. Eighteen months 
later the king of France appeared, then the king of 
England. They were allies, but there was no love lost 



CRUSADE OF HENRY VL FAILS, 1197. 365 

between them, being full of jealousy and constantly 
threatening one another. However, they brought essential 
reinforcements, and the cit}^, hotly besieged, was brought 
to bay and forced to capitulate. King Eichard put 
twenty-five hundred Mussulman prisoners to the sword. 
Saladin was less cruel at Jerusalem! 

30. Richard the Lion-Hearted in Palestine. — Some 
chiefs felt that this success, so dearly bought, warranted 
their departure. Philip Augustus, who had weightier 
cares in France, left the army with Richard's disdainful 
consent; yet he left him ten thousand men, under the 
duke of Burgundy. Once alone, the king of England was 
only more energetic. He lacked diplomacy, but his 
bravery was unflinching. He recaptured Jaffa and 
Ascalon, beat Saladin, and marched on to Jerusalem. But 
he was as prodigal of the lives of his men as he was of 
his own, and soon he had not enough men to strike a 
decisive blow. Saladin, moreover, had experienced great 
reverses. The two great leaders, rivals in courtesy and 
courage, were reduced to negotiations. A truce was con- 
cluded for three years, three months, and three days; 
Christians were to be allowed to visit Jerusalem without 
paying tribute, and, besides, they retained the coast from 
Tyre to Jaffa. Saladin died shortly after (1193). His 
memory is dear to Mussulmans for his military glory and 
diplomatic wisdom, and to Christians for his generosity. 
Richard was taken prisoner, on his return home, as he 
was passing through the territory of Duke Leopold of 
Austria, whom he had insulted at Acre. Given over to 
the Emperor Henry VI., he was thrown into prison and 
closely guarded. 

31. The Cmsade of Henry VI. Fails, 1197.— On the dis- 
appearance of the heroes of the third crusade the Ger- 
mans again enter on the scene. The Emperor Henry VI., 



me THE CRUSADES. 

all powerful in Germany and Italy, took up, in tlie 
eastern Mediterranean, the ambitious projects of the 
^Normans, whose sovereign he had become by marriage. 
He had barely despatched sixty thousand men to Acre, 
when death took him and ruined the expedition scarcely 
begun. Pope Innocent III., young, enthusiastic, and 
ambitious, revived the plans of Urban II.; the crusades 
preoccupied him passionately during his reign. 

32. Innocent III. and the Fourth Crusade. It is Di- 
verted towards Zara, 1202. — Incited hy Fulk, priest of 
Neuilly-sur-Aisne, and Martin, abbot of the Cistercian 
monastery of Pairis, near Colmar, Thibaut III., count of 
Champagne, his seneschal, Geoffrey de Villehardouin, the 
count of Flanders and his wife, the count de Saint-Pol, 
the Sire de Montfort, and others took the cross. Two 
Iiundred thousand pilgrims were ready to follow them. 
The chief command was given to Boniface, marquis of 
Montf errat, a cunning, greedy leader, who counted on the 
weakness of the Greek Empire and the Latin kingdom to 
establish the fortunes of his house in the Orient. This 
time, distrusting the Greeks, the land route was aban- 
doned. The seneschal of Champagne, Geoffrey de Ville- 
hardouin, was despatched to Venice to negotiate with 
the Republic the terms of transportation. The duke, or 
doge, was then Henry Dandolo, then more than an octo- 
genarian, but full of vigour, a cunning diplomatist, and 
ambitious for his country's glory. A treaty, determin- 
ing the conditions of the contract, was drawn up, but he 
made the principal clauses purposely ambiguous. Then 
the pilgrims flowed m. The knights were granted ad- 
mission to the city, but the lower class stayed outside, 
penned up on one of the neighbouring islands. The ex- 
penses along the route had already eaten into the pil- 
grims' resources, and they no longer had the wherewithal 



CAPTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 367 

to pay the stipulated price. The doge proposed to them 
to lay siege to Zara, in the interests of Venice. It was in 
fact a Christian city, and occupied by the king of Hun- 
gary, who had taken the cross. However, they agreed to 
do so, excepting a small number who went on to the Holy 
Land. Zara could not hold out before this unexpected 
enemy, and capitulated after a five days' siege. It was 
sacked and dismantled; then the Venetians took posses- 
sion of the place as masters of the Adriatic. At the same 
time another revolution in Constantinople again diverted 
the crusaders from their object. 

33. The Crusade Turns off to Constantinople. — Isaac 
Angelus had usurped the throne; he was driven out ten 
years later by his own brother, Alexis III., but his son, 
named also Alexis, succeeded in escaping and went 
through Europe seeking avengers. He offered to take 
the Christian army, which was then idle after the cap- 
ture of Zara, into his service; his conditions were so ad- 
vantageous that these strange soldiers of Christ undertook 
once more a war against Christians. In June, 1203, they 
camped at Scutari. After a brief show of resistance, 
Alexis III. lost courage and fled. Isaac was released and 
invested again with the purple, and his son was associ- 
ated with him on the throne as Alexis IV. 

34. Capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders, 1204. — 
The crusaders, loaded down with presents, settled in the 
outskirts of the city, at Pera, and Galata; but their inso- 
lence made them obnoxious to the Greeks, and a revolu- 
tion set Alexis Ducas, as Alexis V., on the throne. 
Thereupon the Latin chiefs reaffirmed their alliance by a 
treaty. Two parties, two groups, with opposing interests 
confronted each other: that of the Venetians and that of 
the crusaders. It was agreed that each one sliould name 
six electors, empowered after the victory, to elect an em- 



368 TEE CRUSADES. 

peror. The emperor should govern all Byzantine terri- 
tory, but should have but one-quarter of it under his 
direct control; the other three-quarters should be divided 
equally between Venetians and crusaders; the Venetians 
should be confirmed in the rights, customs, and posses- 
sions which they had enjoyed up to that time; finally, the 
party which failed to elect the emperor should occupy 
Saint Sophia and choose the future patriarch of Constan- 
tinople. The object of their enterprise being therefore 
clearly decided, unity of action was assured and success 
made probable. The city, furiously besieged, was carried 
by assault (April 12), after resisting bravely for six weeks. 
As at Jerusalem, the victors stained their triumph with 
pillage, massacres, and incendiarism. 

35. Foundation of the Latin Empire. — There was no 
delay in organising the conquered country. Baldwin of 
Flanders was made emperor, and crowned by the Pope's 
legate. Boniface of Montferrat was second in position, 
with Thessalonica and the neighbouring districts erected 
to a kingdom dependent on the " emperor of Eomania." 
Morosini, a Venetian, was chosen patriarch. Innocent 
III. had repeatedly condemned the crusade; he was recon- 
ciled to it when it succeeded, and approved the choice of 
Morosini, which apparently made an end to the Eastern 
schism. The Byzantine territory was parcelled out as 
had been agreed. The Venetians established themselves 
throughout the coasts of the Adriatic, the Archipelago, 
the Propontis, and the Black Sea; they occupied one whole 
quarter in Constantinople and Adrianople entire. The 
chief crusaders shared the remainder of the country, . 
which was partitioned into fiefs: Villehardouin founded 
the principality of Achaia; there were counts of Thebes, 
marquises of Corinth, seigniors, and later, dukes of 
Athens. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE LATIN EMPIRE. 369 

36. Disastrous Consequences of the Fourth Crusade. — It 

was an able party move, but what future awaited the new 
state? What service would it render to the Christian 
cause? It was to be inferred that the activity of the 
Latins in the Orient would be greater, since the 
'" perfidy " of the Greeks was no longer to be feared. The 
contrary happened. Instead of one current drawing the 
Western peoples to the crusades, there were two; and 
ihe struggle against the Mussulmans in Palestine was 
just so much retarded, at a time when strong reinforce- 
ments were most needed. 

37. Disasters and Destruction of the Latin Empire. — 
Moreover the situation of the Latins in the Greek Empire 
was, from the first, very precarious. The entire Byzan- 
tine territory was far from being entirely occupied by 
them: members of the Angelus and Comneni families 
made themselves independent at Durazzo, Trebizond, and 
^ica?a. The " despots " of Epirus waged mortal warfare 
on the kingdom of Thessalonica, which they finally took 
^1227); the emperors of Nicaea controlled the entire west- 
ern part of Asia Minor, and covered themselves with 
glory by fighting the Latins as well as the Turks. Finally 
the Bulgarians, enemies for centuries of the Byzantine 
•emperor, arose, and the Latin emperors exhausted their 
strength in fighting them; Baldwin I., taken by them 
(1206), died in prison. Seven emperors succeeded one 
another during forty years at Constantinople, and were 
unable to stem the rising flood of enemies. 'The last one, 
Baldwin II. (1237-1261), passed the greater part of his 
Teign in begging help of the princes of Europe, who 
turned a deaf ear to his appeal. During this time John 
Ducas Vatazes, emperor of Nictea, took possession of 
Thrace and occupied Thessalonica, taken from the despot 
of Epirus. One of his successors, Michael VIII., Pale- 



370 THE CRUSADES. 

ologus, attacked Constantinople and effected an entrance 
by surprise. He made a solemn entry into the capital of 
the restored Greek Empire, August 15, 1261. 

38. The Disastrous Fifth Crusade, 1219-1221.— The cru- 
saders met with an equally decisive check in the Holy 
Land. The tale of their last struggles against Islamism 
is lamentable. Innocent III. ordered a fifth crusade, 
which was sent against Egypt. After much suffering the 
army succeeded in taking Damietta, the key to the Nile 
(November 5, 1219). The sultan, who held his position 
with difficulty in Cairo, in the midst of plots against his 
throne and person, was so frightened at this that he 
offered to return Jerusalem to the Christians if they 
would consent to evacuate Damietta * (1221). The head 
of the expedition, the violent and incompetent legate 
Pelagius, refused these unhoped-for conditions. Then 
hostilities began again, and the crusaders, poorly led by 
John of Brienne, were unable to dislodge the Mussulmans 
intrenched in their camp of Mansourah; cut off from the 
city and surrounded by conquerors, they could only escape 
disaster by surrendering Damietta (August 30). 

39. Diplomatic Advantages Gained by Frederick II. in 
the Sixth Crusade, 1229. — Emperor Frederick II. of Ger- 
many had promised to go to this crusade, but he had 
been unable to keep his promise. He vowed to start an- 
other. His marriage with Maria Yolande, daughter of 
John of Brienne and heiress of the kingdom of Jerusa- 
lem, afforded a personal reason for action; but when about 
to start (1227) an epidemic broke out in his army and in 
the fleet, which had already put to sea. Before listening 
to an explanation, Gregory IX. accused the emperor of 



* Greek fire was first used by the Saracens at this siege. Until 
then the Greeks had made it by a secret process. 



ADVANTAGES GAUGED BY FREDERICK II. 371 

liaving intentionally broken up the expedition, and ex- 
communicated him. Frederick II. set out, in despite of 
this, the next year, followed by the Pope's curses, who 
called him a " pirate," not a " crusader," not going to con- 
quer, but to ravish his kingdom of the Holy Land. He 
had with him ten thousand men, at the most; but dis- 
cord was rife among the Mussulmans. The sultan of 
Egypt, Alkamil, threatened by the sultan of Damascus, 
agreed to treat with Frederick. They concluded a treaty 
for ten years; moreover, the sultan gave up to the em- 
peror and king Jerusalem, with the right to fortify and 
a,dminister it, on condition that the mosque of Omar, 
with its dependencies, should continue to be Mussulman 
property; he also gave him Bethlehem, Nazareth, and the 
places located along the pilgrims' route, from Acre to 
Joppa and Joppa to Jerusalem; prisoners made since the 
siege of Damietta should be liberated on both sides. 
And, finally, the emperor pledged himself to defend the 
sultan against all his enemies, even Christian, and, what 
was still more grave, to prevent the lords of Antioch, 
Tripoli, Tortosa, etc., from being reinforced. The treaty 
was variously judged. Herman of Salza, grand master 
of the Teutonic Order, acknowledged that Frederick had 
obtained the maximum of advantages; but the patriarch 
of Jerusalem looked upon it as shameful and dangerous. 
So, the day after Frederick assumed the crown at Jerusa- 
lem, the archbishop of Csesarea, in the Pope's name, laid 
the kingdom under an interdict! When the emperor 
at last returned to Italy, he had a reconciliation witli the 
Pope, which did not prevent his concluding, to the great 
scandal of devotees, treaties of alliance and commerce 
with the sultan of Egypt, and the princes of Tunis and 
Morocco. A good policy, but too much in advance of the 
ideas of the times to be justly appreciated. 



372 THE CRUSADES. 

40. Disaster at Graza, 1239. — Hostilities began when the 
ten years' truce had expired. Alkamil had just died, and 
his two sons fought for the inheritance with drawn cime- 
ters. The Christians thought it an opportune time to at- 
tack Egypt, but they were totally defeated at Gaza. 
The emir of Krak immediately attacked Jerusalem, which 
he captured and sacked. A crusade of several thousand 
knights recruited from England and France was not suffi- 
ciently numerous to accomplish anything of impor- 
tance. 

The sultan of Egypt, in his turn, assumed the offensive, 
and threw into Palestine an army of Kharesmian Turks, 
who seized Jerusalem and laid hands on the Christians. 
The Holy City fell at this time finally under the dominion 
of the Crescent (1244). 

41. End of the Crusades, 1248-1270.— Then began the 
death throes of the Latin states in Syria and Pales- 
tine. Louis IV., king of France, led the seventh crusade 
into Egypt. He too seized Damietta and failed before 
Mansourah. The plague or scurvy decimated the army, 
which, exhausted, was forced to surrender (1249). He 
bought his own and his followers' liberty at the price of 
Damietta and an enormous ransom. Once delivered, he 
went to Palestine and spent four years in strengthening 
the defences of places still occupied by the Christians., 
The Mongols came after him. They captured Aleppo, 
Damascus, and Sidon. Bibars, their leader, invaded Syria 
(1263), took Antioch, Joppa, and Krak, the most impor- 
tant fortress of the Hospitallers. When he died (1279) 
he was able to boast that he had struck the final blow at 
the kingdom of Jerusalem. An eighth crusade had been 
started by Louis IX., but against the Mohammedans of 
Tunis (1270). The plague accomplished more than the 
enemy in stopping his troops. He himself died of the 



FAILURE OF TEE CRUSADES. 373 

S€ourge, and the inspiration of the crusaders seems to have 
been buried with him. 

42. Causes for the Failure of the Crusades. Results. — 

Such was the deplorable end of these holy wars, under- 
taken at times with praiseworthy enthusiasm, and which 
had cost so much gold and blood; and all in vain. They 
finished in terrible bankruptcy! The causes of thii 
failure were multiple. They were the extreme variety of 
peoples who furnished warriors for the cmisades, ab- 
sence of adequate authority to keep them united, the 
excessive pretensions of the Greek Empire in Syria, and 
its duplicity, which was much exaggerated, often mis- 
understood, but quite real; the burning rivalries between 
Christian princes, Pope, and emperor, between Pisans, 
Oenoese, and A'^enetians; in short, lack of discipline 
among the crusaders. The setback was especially griev- 
ous for France. She had borne the largest share in these 
wars, she had shed her most generous blood, and she had 
established flourishing colonies in Palestine; she had 
transplanted her civilisation, warriors, and jurists; in her 
■speech and by her chroniclers the fate of the crusades has 
been told, which, it is aptly said, were " the acts of God 
performed through the Franks "; and she suffered so 
much the more from the disaster. But other Christian 
states felt these reverses also. They shook the prestige 
of the Church and condemned the feudal system, which 
could accomplish such brilliant conquests, but was unable 
to preserve them. The heroic and religious era of the 
Middle Ages ends with the crusades. 

One must not, however, be unjust and see only the dis- 
astrous side of these intermittent expeditions. Although 
the burning rivalries of Greeks and Latins may have 
diminished the force of resistance of Constantinople 
against Islamism, yet it is probable that the crusades de- 



374 TEE CRUSADES. 

layed the moment when the infidels crossed the Bos- 
phorus and settled in Thrace. The crusades, far from 
hindering commercial relations between the East and 
West, promoted them by multiplying the points of con- 
tact between the Mussulman and Christian worlds. The 
influence of the West on the East was slight; but that of 
the latter on the former was considerable. The introduc- 
tion and dissemination of new natural products are due 
to them; sesame, buckwheat, saffron, sugar-cane, maize, 
limes, apricots, or Damascus plums, pistachio, the shallot 
(or onion of Ascalon), and the watermelon. The manu- 
factured objects were cotton, calicoes, muslins, damask, 
satin, velvet, camlet, which was a camel's-hair stuff. In 
fashions are the caftan, burnoose, hoqueton (a kind of 
coat), skirts, wearing of the beard, and baths; and in mili- 
tary affairs, tents, Damascus blades, and cross-bows. 
Even the rosary was not generally used in the West until 
after the crusades. Arabian architecture and arts exerted 
an unquestionable influence on the imagination of Eu- 
ropean artists. In sum, the vast social upheaval induced 
by the crusades, the variety and breadth of the horizon 
opened to the thoughts and activities of the men of the 
twelfth century — ^were they not a large factor in the 
powerful intellectual revival which stamps this period^ as 
well as in the social and political changes which then took 
place? 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE COUNTKY DISTRICTS AND CITIES OF FRANCE — EMAN- 
CIPATION OF PEASANTS AND BOURGEOIS.* 

1. Society in two Classes until the Twelfth Century: 
Priests and Nobles. — At the beginning of the eleventh 
century it was freely conceded that men were definitely 
classed in three categories: the prayers, the fighters, and 
the workers. Priests and nobles have concerned us until 
now; in the eleventh century they seem to be the only 
actors on the stage of life. But the workers — peasants in 
the country, artisans and merchants in the cities — gradu- 
ally free themselves and claim in their turn a share in 
privileges. The emancipation of the Third Estate is a 
fact of general importance; it influenced the entire do- 

* Sources. — Chronicles of the eleventh and twelftli centuries col- 
lected in volumes x. and XV. of Bouquet. For Charters, " Recueil 
des Ordonnances des Rois de France," volumes xi. and xiii. 
" Recueil des Monuments inedits du Tiers Etat," composed by Aug. 
Thierry, 4 vols. " Les Layettes du Tresor des Chartes," pub- 
lished under the direction of the national archives, 3 vols. (1863- 
1875). *' Documents sur les Relations de la Royaute avec les Yilles 
en France de 1180 d. 1314"; published by A. Giry (1885). The 
"Livre des Mestiers," by ;^tienne Boileau; edition Lespinasse et 
Bonnardot (1880). 

Literature.— Giry, " Histoire de la Ville de Saint-Omer"; Giry, 
"' Les Etablissements de Rouen "; Prou, " Les Coutumes de Lorris et 
leur Propagation aux XIP et XIIP Siecles"; Delisle, " :^tudes sur 
la Condition de la Classe Agricole en Normandie pendant le Moyen 
Age"; Fagniez, " :^tude sur I'Industrie et la Classe Industrielle a 
Paris au XIII« et au XI V« Si^cle "; Pigeonneau, "Histoire du Com- 
merce de la France "; Luchaire, " Les Communes Fran^aises." 

375 



3T6 COUNTRY AND CITIES OF FRANCE. 

mestic history of the large states of western Europe dur« 
ing the two centuries which followed the definite estab- 
lishment of the feudal system. 

2. Villeins. Conditions of Serfdom Ameliorated. — The 
villeins (villani), or peasants, were certainly the most 
wretched of all classes of the Middle Ages; they were 
mostly serfs, attached to the soil, holding land under 
mortmain tenure, taxable and workable at their lord's will 
and pleasure. They it is who suffer most cruelly from 
the general insecurity. At times their sufferings were 
so unbearable that they revolted, as in Normandy under 
Duke Eichard II. At last their condition was improved, 
when the nobles realised that it was to their interest to 
care for those peasants who supported them. Then in 
place of the purely arbitrary relationship, the idea of a 
voluntary contract, entered into by both parties, was sub- 
stituted. In this way serfs came to pay a lump sum, a 
stated rent; others had leases, as at the present time, for 
short terms or long terms; whilst others still bought their 
freedom at a money valuation. Normandy is, of all 
the provinces in France, the one which made the most 
complete and rapid advance; serfdom had disappeared 
there in the twelfth century. 

3. Emancipation of Serfs on Royal Domains. — Royalty 
joined early in the movement. Louis VI. seems to be the 
first of the Capetians who freed serfs on his domains. 
Louis VII. went so far as to declare that liberty was a 
natural right, and that serfdom was a result of divine 
punishment; it is true, however, he went no farther than 
words. During the seventh crusade Saint Louis and his 
mother, Blanche of Castile, emancipated many, and en- 
couraged their vassals to do likewise. Yet these conces- 
sions were not always gratuitous. Saint Louis worked 
more effectively towards ameliorating the fate of peasants 



FEUDALISM IN THE CITIES. 377 

by forbidding private warfare, proclaiming heavy penal- 
ties against those who " disturbed the ploughs," and pro- 
moting clearings. Favoured by the beneficent peace of 
his reign, country districts were soon repeopled, and in 
certain districts of Normandy, in the thirteenth century, 
the number of inhabitants reached almost that of the 
present time. 

4. Feudalism in the Cities. Entire Disappearance of 
the Roman Municipal Regime. — Progress in the cities 
was startling. In the first place, it must be understood 
that the Eoman municipal regime had entirely disap- 
peared at the Merovingian epoch; at least there is no 
trace of it during quite four centuries. The former 
Gallo-Roman cities, even the capitals of city districts 
(civitates) and provinces, as well as the recent cities 
which were grouped around castles and fortified monas- 
teries, at .the time when feudalism was constituted, 
were owned by seigniors, bishop or abbot, count or king. 
There were often several lords sharing in one city the land 
and houses, the revenues, and administrative and judicial 
power. Their functionaries were the only agents em- 
ployed throughout the town; maires (mayors) to collect 
the produce of the domain; scabini, or, in common speech, 
echevin^, to dispense justice to the middle class. Tlie 
condition of these bourgeois was scarcely better than that 
of the peasants; they were no more masters of their per- 
sons and property than were the latter of theirs. 

In the eleventh century, after the conclusion of the 
great invasions, the situation began to change in France, 
when commerce and industry regained some security. 
But it did not change in every respect, nor at the same 
time, nor in the same way. One can distinguish what 
took place in the south, in the central region, and in the 
i:iorth, where the Capetian influence was felt, and lastly in 



378 COUNTRY AND CITIES OF FRANCE. 

the French domains owned by the dukes of Normandy 
and Aquitaine, kings of England. 

5. Municipal Emancipation in the South. — The south 
of France followed the example of municipal emancipa- 
tion set by Italy. The early start given them there 
by the Mediterranean commerce enriched the in- 
habitants; the study of Roman law gave them the prin- 
ciples of communal organisation; and, finally, the ruin of 
the important feudal lords, both churchmen and laymen, 
by the emperors, removed the first obstacle to their eman- 
cipation. They chose individual magistrates, called 
dukes, or doges, as in Venice and Genoa, or consuls, as in 
Milan. The choice of their fellow-citizens, these magis- 
trates governed the town, dispensed justice, and com- 
manded the militia. The principal cities of the south of 
France, where feudalism was neither very extended nor 
oppressive, were organised on this model. Aries had 
consuls in 1131, Montpelier ten years later, Mmes in 
1145, Narbonne in 1148, and Toulouse in 1188. The 
number of the consuls, as well as the mode of election, 
varied greatly; there were twenty-four at Toulouse and 
only eight at Avignon. Their powers were most ex- 
tended; they were aided by one, and sometimes by two 
councils. It should be observed that these municipal 
leaders were taken from among the higher class of bour- 
geois, or even from the nobles; there was nothing demo- 
cratic in the cities of the south. Moreover, they enjoyed 
a generous autonomy, which is not found to the same 
degree either in the turbulent communes of the north, or, 
especially, in the towns that were half subject to England. 

6. Municipal Emancipation in Normandy. The Estab- 
lishments of Rouen. — The municipal movement did not 
find so favourable a soil in Normandy. Ducal authority 
was very firm there. And besides, when William the 



MUNICIPAL EMANCIPATION. 379 

Bastard conquered England, and especially when Henry 
II. had set up the formidable Angevin Empire, the coun- 
tr}^, drawn into perpetual wars with the Capetian kings, 
was forced to sacrifice all her resources to defensive meas- 
ures; and on their side the Angevin kings increased muni- 
cipal privileges to make sure of the assistance which they 
looked for from the cities. Hence the advantages benevo- 
lently conceded by Henry II. in his Establishments of 
Rouen. He granted the capital of his duchy a municipal 
body made up of one hundred " peers," who elected 
yearly twenty-four jures to dispense justice, having a 
maire named by the king from a list of three candidates; 
but besides these municipal magistrates the king had his 
own functionaries, bailiffs, viscounts, or provosts. The 
Eouen charter was given to several towns in Normandy, 
Poitou, and Saintonge. When Philip Augustus took pos- 
session of this region he found the plan of municipal 
regime so favourable to royal power that he confirmed the 
old charters and granted new ones. There were no revo- 
lutions there, but they broke out repeatedly and with 
great fury in the third region — northern France and 
around the Capetian domain. 

7. Municipal Emancipation in the Capetian Region. 
The Guilds. — There were two principal causes leading up 
to the development of cities there: the terror of Norman 
invasions, which drove many peasants to seek refuge be- 
hind the ramparts and compelled the inhabitants to com- 
bine in order to defend their walls; and, later, commercial 
prosperity, which, in the eleventh century, and especially 
after the first crusade, enriched the towns situated in the 
valleys of the Scheldt and the Ehine. In order to protect 
their manufactures, especially the merchandise which they 
sent away, artisans and merchants formed associations, 
named, according to the locality, guilds, conjurations, con- 



380 COUNTRY AND CITIES OF FRANCE. 

freries, charities, hansas;. as, for instance, the guild of 
Eonen, the " water trade ^' of Paris, the hansa of London 
instituted for trade in English wools with Flemish cities, 
etc. The merchant guilds were the most important, be- 
cause, incurring more risk, they reaped greater profits 
and also felt more keenly the necessity for association; it 
was they too who headed the communal movement and 
who knew how to profit by it most. For a long time arti- 
sans comprised a less important part of the population, 
that was controlled and exploited by the large merchants. 

8. Communal Revolutions. — How did these commercial 
societies gain control of the administration of cities? 
That depended on localities and circumstances. Some- 
times it was the result of an agreement between the lord 
of the city and the bourgeois; but more often it was the 
end of long disagreements, usurpations, and bloody insur- 
rections. In Flanders the cities took advantage of the 
assassination of Count Charles the Good, and the kind of 
interregnum which followed the crime, to organise them- 
selves into communes, and they were either skilful or 
fortunate enough to make the revolution legitimate. 
Elsewhere they took by force the right of self-administra- 
tion, as at Cambrai (1076), Laon (1106), and Yezelay 
(1152). It is noteworthy that in these latter towns the 
seignior was either bishop or abbot. It is sometimes stated 
that the clergy favoured communal emancipation, and it 
has been credited with a revolution which brought forth 
the Third Estate. On the contrary, the Church offered 
the most obstinate resistance, and the change was a-c- 
complished most violently when opposed by her. 

9. Communal Organisations. — The organisation of com- 
munal towns was infinitely varied. It was most frequently 
determined by an ofiicial act or charter, extorted by force 
irom the seignior, or granted by him for fixed pecuniary 



COMMUNAL ORGANISATIONS. 381 

payments, usually very burdensome to the city. In some 
places the lords granted no more than personal liberty to 
the citizens, and the right of being judged solely before 
city tribunals, or securities for trade, fair, and market 
privileges; in others they allowed them self-administra- 
tion, with magistrates of their own choice, yet reserved 
for themselves certain sovereign rights, as at Saint- 
Quentin, Laon, and Noyon, where the tribunal of 
echevins continued to dispense justice in the name of 
their suzerain, as during the Carolingian epoch; elsewhere 
he abdicated completely. Usually municipal powers were 
vested in a body or college of administrators, named 
variously jures, pairs (peers), or echevins. Echevins of the 
commune must be distinguished from seigniorial echevins, 
spoken of above, for frequently, in the Middle Ages, simi- 
lar names were used to designate different things. The 
number of magistrates varied according to the cities; for 
instance, there were twelve at Peronne and thirty-six at 
Laon. Elections varied also; in some places the jures 
elected members to their own body, and thus it became 
exclusively aristocratic and tyrannical; elsewhere the 
mass of artisans — that is to say, the lower class — took an 
important part in the election. The maire was at the 
head of the body of jures or echevins; he was merely the 
first among them, and could do nothing without their ap- 
probation and cooperation. He was elected either by the 
jures in aristocratic communes, or by chiefs of corpora- 
tions of arts and trades; in some towns there were two 
mayors — or rather the mayor had a lieutenant, corre- 
sponding to the present deputy. The office of mayor was 
no sinecure; in fact, the mayor commanded the militia, 
represented the city, travelled for it when it was neces- 
sary to transact business with the seignior or the king, and 
he bore the burden, with the jures — and often more than 



382 COUNTRY AND CITIES OF FRANCE. 

ihey — of the weight of penalties attached to the com- 
mune. During the thirteenth century his term of office 
lasted usually a year. Subject to the under-mayor's and 
jures' orders were functionaries of inferior rank, such as 
the clerk of the commune, a kind of secretary to the 
mayor, treasurer of finances, sergeants, watchmen, etc. 

10. The Comnmnal City is a Corporation Considered 
as a Feudal Person. — The communal body had its tri- 
bunal, militia, and revenues; the bell in the heffroi rang 
the bourgeois to arms and the jures to council; the city 
seal was placed on all acts which determined its rights 
and interests; it often controlled the rural districts, where 
it owned lands and serfs. Thus constituted it was an 
actual feudal lord; the belfry or bell-tower of the to\\Ti 
hall took the place of the seigniorial donjon, and the mayor 
was often represented on the city seal mounted, and wear- 
ing the helmet and hauberk, like a knight. The com- 
munal movement tended therefore to place the bourgeois, 
though collectively, in the ranks of feudalism. Com- 
munes, vassals of king or lords, and owning, themselves, 
vassals, are actual seigniorial lords. It was willingly be- 
lieved in the Middle Ages that conditions were unchang- 
ing. By revolting against their feudal lords cities simply 
wished to destroy or limit some local tyranny; it was not 
their ambition to destroy feudal society, but acquire the 
best place possible in it. 

11. Rural Communes. — There were rural communes as 
well as those of cities. It should be understood that peas- 
ants aspired to become members of the commune estab- 
lished in their neighbourhood, or to form communes for 
themselves; but it should also be understood that the 
lords opposed them violently. Sometimes several villages 
formed a collective commune, such as Laonnais, which 
comprised no less than seventeen villages and covered a 



ROTAL POLICY TOWARDS COMMUNAL TOWNS. 383 

territory of about twenty-four square kilometres. How- 
ever, these communes were short-lived, for they were in- 
capable of resisting for any length of time their feudal 
lord. The Laonnais commune disappeared in the middle 
of the thirteenth century, after a troubled existence of 
three-quarters of a century. 

It may now be asked what was the policy of royalty in 
France towards cities, and how they were treated on 
royal domains. 

12. Royal Policy Towards Communal Towns. — The atti- 
tude of our kings towards communal towns was not un- 
varying. It was quite one thing in the twelfth century, 
under Louis VI. and Louis VII., sometimes different 
under Philip Augustus, whose reign is in this respect a 
transition period, and takes on its final form in the 
thirteenth century, under Saint Louis and his immediate 
successors. First, it must be remembered, royalty always 
posed as the protector of the Church, and, as has been 
seen, it was primarily a disadvantage to the Church that 
the most turbulent of the communes were established; 
hence it is apparent that royalty could not favour them, 
and, in fact, it began by opposing them. On the other 
hand, the establishment of a commune near an episcopal 
or abbatial see, or in a large fief, weakened the seignior; 
now it was evidently to the king's interest to place his 
powerful rivals in an embarrassing position, and he did 
not hesitate, according to circumstances, to legalise com- 
munal insurrections. Hence the confusion in his course, 
ever hesitating between what seemed duty and what was 
certainly to his advantage. It is also a proof that Louis 
VI. does not merit the title, too long given to him, of 
"Father of the Communes." Saint Quentin, Beauvais, 
Rheims, and Amiens had freed themselves long before this 
prince's accession. Moreover, he would not suffer com- 



S84 COUNTRY AND CITIES OF FRANCE. 

munes in regions directly subject to his control. Philip 
Augustus, on the contrary, was very liberal towarde 
them; he confirmed the charters of his predecessors; he 
respected and even extended the privileges of cities which 
he acquired by conquest; and he voluntarily created new 
communes. It was because he believed he should profit 
by them. Most of the communes lay along the most 
exposed frontiers of his domains; so, for his purposes, 
they were just so many strongholds which it cost liim 
nothing to keep up, since the bourgeois bore the expenses 
of keeping the walls in repair and supporting the militia. 
It was another matter in the succeeding reigns. Eoyalty 
attempted to control the communes and turn them to 
account. They were closely watched by the king's officers, 
subject to the restraint of his parliament, and burdened 
with heavy taxes, which hastened their ruin. After the 
thirteenth century the autonomy of municipal republics 
,was no more than a tradition. 

13. Royalty Favours the Bourgeoisie in its Domains. — 
Although royalty was rather hostile than otherwise to 
communes, it was a constant protector, in its domains, 
of cities animated by a more peaceful spirit, the cities 
of the commonalty, or villes de hourgeoisie. They had no 
elected magistrates; the entire administration was in the 
hands of royal officers. The king's provost governed and 
dispensed justice. Naturally it was to the royal interest 
to favour the inhabitants of cities and villages whence 
came its subsistence. This was done by granting them 
freely, although for a sum of money, privileges of every 
kind. Its " charters of enfranchisement " protected in- 
habitants from abuses committed by lords or royal func- 
tionaries, lessened rents and the rate of penalties, sys- 
tematised military service, and made it less oppressive by 
authorising the payment of a sum of money to take the 



THE KING'S GOOD CITIES AND BURGHERS. 385 

place of military duty; they protected corporations of 
artisans and merchants, such as the bow-makers and 
chandlers of Etampes, tavern-keepers of Orleans, bakers 
of Pontoise, tanners of Senlis, the "water trade," shoe- 
makers, money-changers, and butchers of Paris, estab- 
lished fairs and market places, and protected individual 
liberty. The charter granted by Louis the Fat to Lorris 
en Gatinais, with the intention of repeopling the city, 
and, in that way, of increasing the royal revenues, may be 
regarded as typical of these royal concessions. It was 
completely successful, and was adopted, not only in the 
rest of the royal dominions, but in the territory of the 
lords of Courtenay and the counts of Sancerre and 
Champagne. In the same way the " law " granted by 
the archbishop of Rheims to Beaumont en Argonne (1082) 
was adopted in more than five hundred places, little and 
big, in Champagne, Lorraine, and Luxembourg. 

14. The King's Good Cities and Burghers. — The cities 
thus favoured by the king became his bonnes villes, and 
the citizens the bourgeois du rot. In one sense the con- 
dition of these latter was preferable to persons in com- 
munes, for their status was personal, whilst the privileges 
of citizens in communes did not extend beyond the en- 
closure of their towns or districts; they could escape the 
jurisdiction of the lord on whose lands they lived by 
placing themselves under the king's. Therefore subjects 
of vassals did all they could to acquire the quality of 
king's bourgeois, and the movement was favoured by 
royalty, since its authority was extended into the very 
centre of feudal domains. Finally royalty, imitating the 
vast abbeys which, from the eleventh century, had opened 
asylums for homeless men, made an attempt to increase 
the number of " new cities," in the hope of enriching tlie 
domain, and at the same time injuring feudal lords — a 



386 COTTNTRT AND CITIES OF FBANCE. 

hope that was rarely disappointed. Added to this, it 
extended its influence over cities belonging to certain 
nobles, either by taking them under royal protection, or 
by negotiating with the lord of the city a share in the 
administration of the town (pariages). All means to 
bring cities within its sphere were legitimate, and the 
time was not far distant when the maxim, " the com- 
munes belong to the king,'' would hold good. On the 
whole this policy was followed by all lay and ecclesiastical 
lords, it was so much in accord with the nature of things. 

15. Formation of the Third Estate. — If now the whole 
of the movement which took place in the twelfth century 
in countries and towns be considered, one cannot fail to 
be impressed by its strength and extent, and struck by 
the advantages which it brought in its train. The con- 
ditions of serfdom were ameliorated, even condemned in 
principle; the arbitrary and violent regime of primitive 
feudalism was replaced by new relations between strong 
and weak, which were outlined by contracts and defined 
in charters; by the side of lay and ecclesiastical lords, who 
had until then assumed all powers in the state as well as 
all rights in society, cities were learning how to govern 
themselves. A third class was gradually taking form in 
the nation. The widespread custom in cities of borrow- 
ing from some typical municipality its internal system,. 
such as the law of Beaumont, the customs of Lorris, the 
establishments of Rouen, the charter of Mantes, Sois- 
sons. Saint Quentin, or the treaty of peace of Laon, struck 
a deathblow at the feudal characteristic of local peculiar- 
ity. And finally labour, being protected, paved the way 
for an increase in comfort such as had not been known 
since the Eoman decadence. 

16. Agriculture. — In the twelfth century France was 
still preeminently an agricultural country; the products 



INDUSTRY IN PARIS. 387 

of the soil were naturally the same as in our days, since 
the climate has not changed; it was a country of wheat 
and wines. In the thirteenth century there was an 
interest shown in the improvement of the breed of wool- 
bearing animals, oxen, and horses; some rich proprietors 
had studs. But crafts and commerce were keeping pace 
with farming and grazing; the former were the prov- 
ince of the bourgeois, and agriculture was that of 
villeins. 

17. Industries and Corporations. — Industries were still 
in their infancy. They called for manual labour only, 
and there were scarcely any machines other than the tools 
employed by workmen from times immemorial in all 
countries. Moreover, trades were not allowed to develop 
freely, but were subject to the restrictive measures of 
guilds. 

18. Industry in Paris During the Thirteenth Century. 
' — The industrial conditions and the working class in the 
thirteenth century can best be studied at Paris, because 
Paris was then the largest city in France, and the 
statutes of the various incorporated bodies of crafts, 
collected by Stephen Boileau, have come down to us 
almost entire. These corporations were responsible 
bodies — that is to say, the individuals of the trade, taken 
collectively, could act as one individual: buy and sell, go 
to law, and receive legacies and inheritances. They had 
their own revenues, their house, such as the Parloir aux 
Bourgeois of the " water trade," and their personal seal, 
like a seignior exercising Jurisdiction. Artisan members 
were also associated in pious and charitable works, until, 
somewhat later, they should form religious fraternities. 
They took part as a body in public ceremonies; thus, more 
than three hundred fullers went out to meet Philip the 
Bold when he returned with the bones of Saint Louis. 



388 COUNTRY AKD CITIES OF FRANCE. 

Commanded by the knight of the watch {chevalier du gnet), 
they cooperated with the paid guard of the king in 
policing Paris, by furnishing, in their turn, a quota of 
men for the citizens' -guard. It is true that some trades 
were relieved of this obligation; for instance, those who 
worked for the nobility and clergy, such as the hauberk- 
makers, sculptors, makers of peacock-feather hats. The 
cement-makers and stone-cutters claimed a like exemp- 
tion, which they dated from the reign of Charles Martel. 
The drapers, haberdashers, and jewellers possessed the 
most prosperous industries of Paris. As a rule, trades- 
men of a like profession lived in the same quarter or on 
the same street; the streets named de la Mortellerie 
(cement-makers), de la Tannerie (tanners), de la Sellerie, 
(saddlers), de la Parchemenerie (parchment-makers), and 
des Lombards (the money-dealers) have kept the tradi- 
tion of former conditions. Butchers, on the contrary, 
lived outside of the walls; the principal slaughter-house 
was near the Chatelet, on the site of the present tower 
Saint Jacques de la Boucherie; the wall built by Philip 
Augustus brought it within the city enclosure. 

19. The Industrial Class of Paris. — There were three 
classes comprised in a guild: apprentices, workmen, and 
masters. The term and price of apprenticeship varied 
greatly — from three to thirteen years, and from twenty 
sous to six francs per annum. The workman's life and 
habits must be reputable. His pay was small, but he was 
lodged and fed at his master's house. He could easily 
set up for himself, having merely to pass the mastership 
e:iamination and pay the small initial expenses. Large 
fortunes, as well as extreme poverty, therefore, were rare. 
Some corporations of crafts and trades admitted mem- 
bers by right of birth; down to the fifteenth century; 
butchers inherited their trade. The gardes-jures, who 



COMMERCE AKD FAIRS. 389 

inspected the various trades, were elected by the masters. 
They visited workrooms and shops, confiscated poor 
products, even in the hands of foreign tradesmen or 
buyers. This general oversight of crafts suited the 
period of infant industries, and tended to good re- 
sults, since masters and workmen made but one family, 
and the antagonism between capital and labour, as we 
call it to-day, did not exist. 

20. Commerce and Fairs. — Commerce was in close touch 
with industries. The shop was often alongside of the 
workroom; but there were also travelling merchants. The 
cries of the various itinerant sellers of Paris have been 
gathered into a collection. Some had both a shop in 
their own quarter and a booth at the market-houses 
(halles). These were built by Louis VI. on the site of 
the Champeaux (meadows), where are the present central 
market-houses (Halles centrales); they were enlarged by 
Philip Augustus. Added to these were fairs, which oc- 
curred at stated times of the year, frequented by mer- 
chants from the French provinces, and even foreign 
countries. In Saint Louis's time the most important 
ones were the fair of I'Endit (indidum), or of Lendit 
near Saint Denis, of Beaucaire, and especially the six 
fairs in Champagne. Foreign commerce improved some- 
what, although it had scant honour from the Church. It 
was fostered by the crusades, the formation of great 
states, the continued peace under Saint Louis, the circu- 
lation of gold coins minted under this king's direction, 
and bills of exchange — which came into use during the 
thirteenth century. But, as has often been the case 
among the French, there was a certain disinclination to 
undertake large business enterprises, which require 
marked initiative ability. Important commercial under- 
takings were too often left to foreigners. The French- 



390 COUNTRY AND CITIES OF FRANCE. 

men rarely travelled, doubtless because they were fairly 
comfortable at home. 

21. Extreme Importance of the History of the Twelfth 
Century in French and European Civilisation. — Thus 
everything was moving and changing during these Middle 
Ages, which are sometimes represented as being held 
motionless in leading-strings. In this respect, and it is 
not the only one, the twelfth century was one of amazing 
productiveness. It was preeminently a creative period; 
a fact that will be illustrated many times. The parcelling 
out of feudal domains, under seigniors, whose interests lay 
in the welfare of their territories, resulted in a material 
increase in prosperity and population. The double move- 
ment of the communes and the crusades is the proof of a 
real outpouring of life and energy. The great nations 
of Europe were also taking form at this time. Germany 
and Italy, absorbed in the struggle for universal do- 
minion, to which each aspired, had no leisure for home 
development and organisation; elsewhere it was different. 
Christian unification and diversity of peoples developed 
at the same time. First among them we should study 
France, taking up the others later. 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 

PKENCH ROYALTY (987-1154).* 

I. Beginning of Capetian Royalty. Weakness of the 
Royal Power. — In the beginning, Capetian royalty appar- 
ently lacked force and independence. Hugh Capet had 
been favoured by Germany. He had, moreover, been 
elected by the nobles of the kingdom; his usurpation justi- 
fied theirs. The feudal regime was then legalised: 
instead of one king, there seemed to be more than one 
hundred. In fact, sovereign power, while expressing itself 
in the same forms as during Charlemagne's time, was 
very limited. The ancient national laws, restored by the 
great emperor, had fallen into desuetude, and had been 
replaced by an infinite number of local customs over which 
the king had no hold; and also the requirement that no 
ordinance should be published without the assent of his 
I vassals, crippled his legislative authority. The judicial 

* Sources. — See details in the " Bibliograpliie de I'Histoire de 
France," by G. Monod (1888). The principal chronicles are of Hel- 
gaud: " Vita Robert! regis," in Bouquet, volume x. Raoul Glaber: 
" Five books of his histories," edition M. Prou (1886). Sigebert de 
Gembloux: " Chronicon " (381-1112), in Bouquet, volumes x., xi., 
and in the " Monum. Germ, histor.," volume x. Suger: "Vie de 
Louis le Gros suivie de I'Histoire du roi Louis VII."; edition of A. 
Molinier (1887). Letters of Ives de Chartres (died 1117) in Bouquet, 
volume XV. Charters of Kings Hugh Capet, Robert the Pious, and 
Henrj I., in Bouquet, volumes x. and xi. 

Literature. — Lot, as above; Pfister, " :^tudes sur le R^gne de 
Robert le Pieux "; Luchaire, " Etudes sur I'Administration de Louis 
VII. et Catalogue de ses Actes," and " Louis VI. le Gros. Anuales de 
sa Vie et de son R^gne "; Luchaire, " Les Premiers Capetiens "; vol. 
ii. part i. Lavisse, " Histoire de France." 

391 



392 FRENCH ROYALTY (987-1154). 

power of seigniors limited the efficiency and activity of his 
tribunal, which was composed entirely of the undisciplined 
leaders of the nobility and clergy. He had at his dis- 
position a force unworthy of the name of army, since vas- 
sals owed him but an extremely short term of service. 
Imposts having disappeared long before, the treasury was 
replenished solely from the royal domains. 

2. Extent of the Royal Domain. — The domain was made 
up of territorial possessions scattered throughout twelve 
of the present departments of France, and separated from 
one another by fiefs belonging to the Church and lay 
seigniors. The king could not go from one to another 
possession except at the head of an armed force, so that 
the shortest journey meant to him a military expedition. 
As for his direct vassals, some, whose fiefs lay within the 
so-called territory under obedience to the king, — like the 
counties of Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Chartres, and Blois, 
Troyes, Corbeil, Dreux, the Vexin, Meulan, the Verman- 
dois, and Ponthieu, — could furnish him, on certain occa- 
sions, a brilliant, though small, escort; others, those 
beyond the rivers Canche and Loire, not counting the 
duchy of Normandy and county of Brittany, were but 
loosely attached to him. Under such conditions Capetian 
royalty was destined to remain hopelessly weak. 

3. Circnmstances Favourable to Capetian Royalty. — 
However, several causes came to its aid. First, royalty 
continued. In Germany, for instance, royal families soon 
passed away; that of Hugh Capet was continued from 
father to son, uninteri'uptedly, for more than three 
centuries. During these centuries there was but one 
long minority. Saint Louis's, and then France was fortu- 
nate enough to have a woman of superior mind for regent, 
Blanche of Castile. It was sufficient for the early Cape- 
tians to take the precaution, followed, moreover, by the 



TROUBLES OF HUGH CAPET. 393 

Carolingians, of having their eldest sons crowned, and 
associated with them on the throne, before dying, so that 
the transmission of the crown was almost always made 
peaceably, and royalty gradually became hereditary. This 
fact led to one natural result. According to feudal laws 
the king was supreme suzerain; whilst all seigniors in 
France, directly or indirectly, were under his dependence, 
he depended on no one, except, as was said later, on God 
and his own sword. Of feudal origin, but monarchical 
tendencies, royalty yielded none of the Capetian preten- 
sions to supreme power. It even made use of the rules of 
feudal society to enlarge, to the detriment of feudal 
power, and reconquer, one by one, the domains and regal 
powers that had been lost. Dating from Hugh Capet, the 
history of France is a tale of the kingdom's conquest by 
the kings. On the whole, the early Capetians no more 
failed in their task than did the later Carolingians; but 
the situation was more favourable, for the latter were 
upheld by a large force of personal vassals and vast terri- 
torial fortune. Unfortunately, they met, at every point, 
either the inertia or avowed hostility of the feudal aristoc- 
racy, and a century and a half were needed to restrain, 
break up, and control it. 

4. Troubles of Hugh Capet and Robert II., the Pious. — 
The facts of domestic history may be rapidly summed up. 
Hugh was first compelled to defend his crown against 
Charles of Lorraine, who was supported by Arnulf, Adal- 
bfero's successor at Eheims. When this pretender was 
definitely driven off, he interfered -wdth much energy and 
skill in his vassals' quarrels. His son, Robert 11. (996- 
1031), attempted, by his marriage with Bertha, widow of 
Eudes I., count of Chartres, Tours, and Blois, to gain 
possession of the latter's rich domains; but Bertha was 
too closely allied to him, according to Church laws of 



S94 FRENCH ROYALTY (987-1154). 

consanguinity, and, anathematised by the Pope, he was 
obliged, after long resistance, to give her up (1101% 
When Duke Henry, his uncle, died, leaving no direct heir, 
he invaded Burgundy, which he finally conquered, after 
fourteen years of struggle (1016). South of the Loire 
lie was on friendly terms with William the Scholar, duke 
of Aquitaine. His marriage with Constance of Aries 
tended to establish Capetian influence in the south, but 
for the moment it had unfortunate results. The new 
<[ueen introduced into northern France the costumes and 
gentle manners of the south, which aroused disapproval 
in the clergy; she was ill-tempered and domineering, and 
finally gained dangerous ascendency over the mind of her 
-weak husband. On his death, July 30, 1031, she wished 
to give the croAvn to a younger son, and dispossess Henry. 
The attempt was a failure. Henry, victorious over 
Eobert at Yilleneuve-Saint-Georges, bought him off with 
the duchy of Burgundy, and his mother's death (1032) 
left him in peaceful possession of the throne. 

5. Futile Attempts of Henry I. to Take Normandy.— 
The engrossing subject of the reign of Henry I. was Nor- 
mandy. Since it had been definitely constituted by 
William I., Longsword, this beautiful duchy had in- 
-creased in prosperity. The marriage of Eichard I. with 
Emma, daughter of Hugh the Great, gave the Capetians 
' a valuable and often a faithful ally. Eichard II., named 
the Good (996-1027) helped King Eobert to conquer 
Burgundy. His grandson, Eobert I., called the Devil, 
or the Magnificent (1028-1035), helped Henry I. to 
triumph over his brother and mother. When he died, 
on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (1035), he only left one 
illegitimate son, William, born about 1027, whose mother 
was the daughter of a tanner of Falaise. An uprising of 
the Norman barons forced the young duke to take refuge 



PHILIP L, 1060-1108. 395 

with Henry I., who immediately came to his assistance. 
The rebels were beaten at the battle of Val-es-Dunes, near 
Caen (1017). A short time after William married his 
cousin Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V., count of 
Flanders. Soon, jealous of the growing power of his 
vassal, Henry I. joined with the counts of Champagne and 
Ponthieu in the invasion of Normandy. One of his 
armies was completely routed at Mortemer, and the other, 
j^anic-stricken, beat a retreat. The king 'returned to the 
charge four years later, but he was surprised at the cross- 
ing of the Dive, near Varaville, and forced to retreat 
over the frontier. Although beaten, Henry I. acquired 
great renown for his bravery. This was apparent at the 
coronation ceremonies of his oldest son, Phili]), whom he 
had by his wife, Anne of Eussia. There were, in fact, at 
Eheims, besides many prelates, abbots, and priests, the 
duke of Aquitaine, tlie son of the duke of Burgundy; the 
counts of Auvergne, La Marche, Angouleme, etc.; 
southern and northern France met. Persons of all 
classes assented unanimously, exclaiming three times: 
" We approve, we wish it ! '' Contemporaries were 
amazed that there should have been no disorder in such 
a vast crowd. Xor was there any outbreak of disorder 
at the time of Henry's death, which left the crown to a 
child eight years of age. 

6. Philip I., 1060-1108. Importance of the First Pour 
Capetians. — The new king was, for some time, under the 
guardianship of his maternal uncle, the count of Flanders, 
who ruled wisely until 1067. When Philip I. became his 
own master, he continued the policy of liis predecessors. 
He threw off his natural indolence many times, in order 
to interfere in the complicated affairs of the Flanders 
succession, and to keep within bounds the duke of Nor- 
mandy, who, by a fortunate move, had become master of 



396 FRENCH ROYALTY (987-1154). 

England (1066). His successes, like his father's, were 
indifferent, yet they in no wise lessened the esteem in 
which the house of France was held. The work of the 
iirst four Capetians was therefore not barren; the efforts 
of the eleventh century paved the way for the progress 
of the twelfth, while the crusades were diverting into the 
Orient a good part of the brutal passions of feudalism. 

7. Louis VI. His Character. — Louis VI., called the 
Tat, born in 1081, the oldest son of Philip I., was associ- 
ated with his father, under the title of " future king," 
when he was nineteen years old. He was not crowned at 
that time, but he did not wait his father's death to become 
actual king; his personal activity made itself felt from the 
beginning of the twelfth century. He was tall and cor- 
pulent; like his father, he loved good eating and pleasure; 
he resembled his grandfather, Henry I., in his passion 
for arms. A great hunter and fighter, he flung himself 
with fool-hardy courage into the midst of danger. He 
did not cease his activity until, at the age of forty-six, 
he became too corpulent to mount a horse. As a man he 
was praised for his frankness and goodness, as a king, 
for his justice. These qualities took the place of diplo- 
matic ability; and by making him loved and feared they 
constituted the strength and value of his reign. 

His reign was one long struggle against feudalism and 
for the Church. 

8. Disturbed Situation of the Eoyal Domain. — The con- 
dition of the royal domains called for energetic action 
against the petty feudal lords. There were hostile don- 
jons everywhere, inhabited by hereditary chatelains, who 
supported themselves by brigandage. Louis VI. restored 
order among them. The chateau of Puiset, the terror 
of the Beauce, was besieged, taken, and burned three 
times. Thomas de Marie, sire of Couci, died in 



LOUIS VL 397 

prison, still refusing to give up his stolen property. It 
toolv twenty years to subdue the lords of Maule, Mont- 
Ihery, Rochefort in Iveline, Crecy in Brie. Yet it was 
accomplished, and the king, from Paris, could communi- 
cate freely with the principal Capetian cities — Dreux, 
Etampes, Orleans, and Melun. 

9. Louis VI. Struggles with Great Feudal Lords. — The 
long struggle of the petty feudal lords was supported by 
help from the powerful nobles. However, Louis the Fat 
resisted both. He fought twenty-four years (1111-1135) 
against Thibaut lY., count palatine, whose dominion ex- 
tended over Champagne and Blois, and who was besides 
nephew of the king of England, Henry I., Beauclerc. 
He disarmed him, at last, by giving him a privileged posi- 
tion at his own court. He tried to take advantage of 
the death of Charles the Good, count of Flanders, assassi- 
nated at Bruges in 1127, by imposing one of his own 
favourites on the Flemings. This was William Clito, son 
of Robert Courteheuse, duke of Xormandy, who aspired 
to the English throne; but he was unskilful in his 
candidacy, and soon was obliged to give it up. His ally 
in the west was Fulk Y., count of Anjou, Touraine, and 
Maine: it was a valuable foothold, as far as Normandy 
was concerned, but Fulk, having married the daughter of 
Baldwin II., heiress to the throne of Jerusalem, went to 
reign in the Holy Land, and his son, Geoffrey Plantagenet, 
married Matilda, daughter of King Henry I. of England. 
The latter's death postponed for a time the danger of an 
Anglo-Angevin alliance. South of the Loire, Louis the 
Fat directed two expeditions against William YL, count 
of Auvergne, who had been persecuting the bishop of 
Clermont; he had with him, on the second (1126), the 
counts of Flanders, Anjou, and Brittany, some Norman 
troops sent by Henry I., Amaury de Montfort and many 



398 FRENCH ROYALTY (987-1154). 

other barons. The duke of Aquitaine, William IX., the 
Troubadour, interfered in favour of his vassal the count 
of Auvergne, but he was frightened by the number of 
warriors with the king of France, and beat a retreat, after 
doing homage to the king. His son, William X., when 
about to die, asked his barons to marry his eldest daugh- 
ter, heiress of his "fief and title, to the successor named 
by Louis the Fat. The union of the future Louis VII. 
with Fleanor of Aquitaine (1137) at once doubled the 
domain, and for the first time the authority of a Capetian 
king extended as far as the Pyrenees. 

10. Struggles of Louis VI. with England. — The situa- 
tion in ISTormandy was more difficult. Louis VI. was com- 
pletely routed at Bremule in an attempt to take Andelys. 
An attempted coalition against Henry I. in 1122 resulted 
in a closer alliance of this king with his son-in-law, Henry 
v., emperor of Germany. In 1124 two armies prepared 
to invade the territory of the king of France; the English 
were to come by way of N'ormandy, whilst the Germans 
marched upon Rheims. Louis the Fat faced the danger 
with manly resolution. As count of the Vexin and vassal 
of the abbey of Saint Denis, he went, with much solem- 
nity, to take the red-and-gold standard of the monastery, 
the oriflamme, which was only done in exceptional cases. 
The duke of Burgundy, the counts of Blois, Champagne, 
and Nevers, sent him their feudal contingents; the counts 
of Vermandois and Flanders came to the armed camp in 
person; the archbishop of Rheims, the bishops of Chalons, 
Laon, Soissons, the abbot of Saint Denis, the provosts of 
Paris and Etampes, brought him large bodies of infantry. 
Those among the higher feudal lords who, for various 
reasons, thought best to remain away, sent excuses. 
There was a spontaneous outburst of patriotism which 
united the French in a common feeling. The demonstra- 



LOUIS VI. AND THE CHURCH. 399 

'tion was sufficient, however. The emperor, frustrated by 
this sudden uprising of an entire people, disturbed by a 
revolt of the inhabitants of AYorms, did not even cross 
the frontier, and Henry I. was left alone. The two kings 
continued their intrigues up to the time of their death. 
Louis the Fat gained no advantage from so doing, but he 
had the merit of inaugurating the policy followed by his 
successors in regard to England. 

11. Louis VI. and the Church. Support which He Re- 
ceives from It and the Services He Expects from It. — In 
all these wars Louis the Fat had the support of the 
Church. She gave him money and troops as well as pro- 
vided him with clerks for councillors and his principal 
ministers. The alliance between Church and state, 
which had so effectively fostered the beginnings of the 
Capetian dynasty, continued to the great advantage of 
both parties. But the reform movement in the eleventh 
century, which had had its centre at Cluny and had 
reached its culminating point with Gregory VII., had in- 
creased the number of monasteries and weakened the 
feeling of mutual dependence that united the clergy and 
royalty. While lavishing gifts and privileges on the 
Church, Louis VI. wished to keep her in his service. 
More than once he forced bishops and abbots to submit to 
the jurisdiction of his court; elsewhere he interfered in 
episcopal and abbatial elections, in spite of papal decrees 
which had declared them free. The wise and learned 
Suger, for whom Louis VI. always felt a warm friendship, 
being elected by the monks of Saint Denis without the 
king's sanctioning the proceedings, the latter had the 
monks who brought him news of the election thrown into 
prison (1122); he relented finally and confirmed the elec- 
tion, but they had trembled before his righteous anger. 
His conduct was equally firm and politic towards the 



400 FRENCH ROYALTY (987-1154). 

head of the Church. In this way he succeeded in pre- 
venting Calixtus II. from acknowledging the pretensions 
of the archbishop of Lyons, who claimed the title of pri- 
mate of the Gauls, and who wished to place the church of 
Sens, which was under the dependence of the bishopric 
of Paris, under Lyons, which was in great part on terri- 
tory belonging to the Empire. 

12. Favourites of Louis VI. — Although energetic and 
fortunate, Louis the Fat had his weaknesses. He had 
favourites, to whom he confided too much power. Four 
brothers of the Garlande family enjoyed his favour 
longest. The oldest, Anseau, was seneschal and died at 
the siege of Puiset (1118). William succeeded him; he 
commanded the royal army at Bremule. Gilbert was 
cellarer for some time. Stephen had still more amazing 
fortune; he was priest and archdeacon of Paris; he be- 
came chancellor, chaplain in chief, and even seneschal 
after his brothers. It is the only case in all Capetian 
history of a seneschal wearing the cassock instead of the 
hauberk. Power thus confided to one person made the 
favourite haughty and roused up many enemies for him; 
even the queen turned against him. In 1127 he was sud- 
denly disgraced, despoiled of all his offices, and treated 
as an enemy. Then he did not fear to revolt, but he 
was suppressed, and although the king gave him back the 
chancellorship, he played but a shadowy part. 

13. Sug^er. — His place in the first rank was then occu- 
pied by the king's cousin, Ealph de Vermandois, and by 
the abbot of Saint Denis, Suger. Suger was of low ex- 
traction; he was sickly and weak, but gifted with high 
intelligence. He had an unusual memory, and much 
facility of expression and style. Firm and moderate, he 
exerted a predominating influence at the king's court 
during the last ten years of his reign. He did more; he 



J 



LOUIS VIL IN THE SECOND CRUSADE. 401 

wrote the life, or, more properly speaking, the panegyric 
of Louis VI. and contributed largely to establishing his 
fame of the first of the great Capetian kings. 

14. Religious Policy of Louis VII.— On the death of 
Louis VI. (August 1, 1137) his oldest son, Louis VIL, 
already associated with him for six years, ascended the 
throne. He kept his father's ministers in office. As long 
as Suger lived he followed his advice in the internal ad- 
ministration of the kingdom. He stamped out feudal 
anarchy throughout his domains. The families of Mont- 
morency, Beaumont, Clermont, and Dammartin lost their 
independence and were resigned to serve instead of com- 
bating royalty. Through marriage alliances he gained 
the house of Champagne, which was separated in 1152 
from that of Blois. In the south he gained the support 
of the clergy by lavishing immunities and privileges upon 
them. Even his pilgrimages were of use to him. The 
one to Compostella gave him an opportunity to show royal 
piety and pomp to populations that up to that time had 
taken slight interest in France; the one to the Grande 
Chartreuse enabled him to form friendly relations in the 
kingdom of Burgundy, so closely allied to the Empire, 
with the bishop of Belley, or the lord de la Bresse. That 
was good policy, of which Philip Augustus and his suc- 
cessors were to reap the fruits. 

But Louis VII. committed two grave errors which 
jeopardised the Capetian monarchy: he took part in the 
second crusade, and he had his marriage with Eleanor of 
Aquitaine annulled. 

15. Louis VII. in the Second Crusade. — Religious 
scruples dictated the fatal resolution of Louis VII. to go 
to the Holy Land. In a war with the count of Cham- 
pagne he had taken Vitry; and the town church, in which 
a part of the garrison and many inhabitants had taken 



402 FRENCH ROYALTY (987-1154). 

refuge, was burned (1142). In order to gain pardon for 
this involuntary crime, he abandoned his poorly regulated 
kingdom. It is true, he confided its affairs to Suger, but 
what could a monk effect against the insolent and incor- 
rigible feudal lords? A revolution almost deprived the 
absent king of his crown, to the advantage of one of his 
brothers. 

16. Louis VII. Annuls his Marriage with Eleanor of 
Aquitaine, 1152. — Suger disapproved of the king's ab- 
sence. Scarcely had he died when the king asked that 
his union with Eleanor of Aquitaine might be annulled. 
The husband and wife had never lived amicabl}" together. 
The queen's misconduct during the crusade, on which she 
accompanied her husband, estranged her excessively aus- 
tere and devout husband; moreover, she had borne him 
only daughters in their fifteen years of married life. Yet 
no one of these reasons was advanced in the council of 
Beaugency, to which the question of divorce was sub- 
mitted, but it was decided that the couple were too closely 
related by ties of consanguinity, and the Church annulled 
their marriage. 

17. Danger to France in the Marriage of Eleanor of 
Aquitaine mth Henry Plantagenet. — Weighty decision 
it was, since the duchess, as soon as free, hastened to 
marry Henry Plantagenet, duke of Normandy and count 
of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. Nothing was more dan- 
gerous for the future of the Capetian house than the union 
in one hand of so many fiefs. Henry Plantagenet then 
possessed the entire seacoast from the Channel and the 
ocean to the Pyrenees. He controlled the harbours and 
the lower courses of the large French rivers, the Seine, 
Loire, and Garonne. His accession to the throne of Eng- 
land (1154) doubled his power. The vassal was hence- 
forth more powerful than the suzerain. 



A 



CHAPTER XXV. 

FRENCH EOYALTY (1154:-1270).* 

1. Necessity of Fighting the Angevin Empire. Divi- 
sion of the Subject. — The foundation of the Angevin 
Empire laid heavy obligations on Capetian royalty. Until 
then the kings of France and England had been rivals; 
they were now enemies, for all serious advance was 
barred to the Capetians as long as the Angevins reigned 
both in England and over one-quarter of France. For a 
centur}^ (1154-1259), our kings negotiated, intrigued, or 
fought to attain their ends. They succeeded with diffi- 
culty and chiefly because of their adversary's mistakes; 
but henceforth this struggle is the point around which 

* Sources. — G. Monod: " Bibliographie," as above. Rigord : 
"Vita Phillipi Augusti," 1179-1208; edition Delaborde, (2 vols., 
1885). Guillaume le Breton: " Gesta Phillipi Augusti et Pliillipidis 
libri duodecim" (biography of Philip Augustus in Latin hexameters); 
edition Delaborde (continuation of Rigord). Helinand; " Chroui- 
cou," published in volume viii. of the " Bibliotheca Cluniacensis." 
Joinville: " History of Saint Louis," edition N. De Wailly. Guil- 
laume de Nangis: "Gesta Ludovici IX."; edition Geraud ; 2 
vols., 1843. "Chronique de Primat " (translated into French by 
Jean du Vignay), in Bouquet, volume xxiii. A. Luchaire: "Louis 
VIL," as above; L. Delisle: "Catalogue des Actes de Philippe- 
Auguste" (1865) and " Le Plus Ancien Registre de Philippe- 
Auguste " (1884). 

Literature,— Petit-Dutaillis, " l:tude sur la Vie et la Regne de 
Louis VIIL"; Berger, "Blanche de Castille"; Wallon, "Saint 
Louis et son Temps "; Bemont, " La Proces et la Condemnation de 
Jean sans Terre," in the "Revue Historique," vol. xxxii.; Hutton, 
" Philip Augustus"; Langlois, vol. iii., parts i. and ii., of Lavisse, 
•' Histoire de France." 

403 



404 FRENCH ROYALTY (1154-1270). 

their history centres. To be or not to be, that was the 
question. 

There are two broad periods of about equal duration in 
this history: the first including the reigns of Henry II. 
and Eichard the Lion-Hearted, who were able to organise 
and hold the Angevin Empire together (1154-1199), and 
the second, marked by the reverses of John Lackland, the 
successful duplicity of Philip Augustus, and the able 
moderation of Saint Louis. 

2. Louis VII. Combats Henry II. — Hostilities began 
immediately after Eleanor's divorce. Louis VII. declared 
war on his vassal for marrying without his authority the 
duchess of Aquitaine, and refusing to appear and vindi- 
cate his conduct at his suzerain's court. Henry II. bought 
his pardon by payment of a war indemnity. Henry, in 
his turn, wished to subdue Toulouse, to which the 
duchess, his queen, laid claim. Louis VII. flung himself 
into the city, and Henry, not willing to combat his 
suzerain, left the army, which soon raised the siege. The 
king of France did not lack opportunities for troubling 
his rival; he was intelligent enough to see them, but too 
vacillating and timid to make use of them. He received 
respectfully the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas 
Becket, whom Henry II. had persecuted, and tried faith- 
fully to reconcile them to each other. He gave his 
daughter in marriage to Henry's oldest son, Henry Court 
Mantel, who reigned conjointly in England in 1170, and 
he took up arms to help him, when the young king re- 
volted against his father, but he was conquered at 
Conches (1173). When he died seven years later (1180), 
he had not brought the question one step farther towards 
a solution. 

3. Policy of Philip Augustus towards Henry II. and 
Bichard. — This son Philip II. Augustus, succeeded him. 



POLICY OF PHILIP AUGUSTUS. 405 

He was but fifteen and reigned first under the guardian- 
ship of his uncle, the count of Flanders, a control which 
he soon shook off, for he was not of a character to brook 
restraint long. His father was justly called " Young " 
until the end of his days; Philip, on the contrary^ was 
early mature enough to reign. Both enterprising and 
cautious, he made the struggle against the Angevin Em- 
pire the main object of his life, but he changed his policy, 
according to the circumstances and varying characters of 
his adversaries. Henry II. was met and held in check by 
his own sons, Geoffrey, Richard, and John Lackland, 
whose quarrels he espoused and whose ambitions he flat- 
tered. When Henry II. died at Chinon^ and Richard the 
Lion-Hearted received the succession (1189), he began by 
living at peace with him. The two kings vowed to leave 
together for the third crusade and kept their oath. But 
they quarrelled, even before reaching the Holy Land, and 
after the capture of Acre, Philip hastened to return home. 
Availing himself of Richard's absence and long captivity, 
he made an alliance with John, and urged the latter to 
assume the crown, whilst he took Normandy. The ener- 
getic measures of Richard's ministers, added to John's 
despicable intrigues, and the king's arrival from prison, 
foiled the plans of the accomplices. Philip, surprised 
between Blois and Freteval, was beaten, and lost his 
money, baggage, seal, and registers (1194). Two other 
defeats, near Courcelles and Vernon, forced Philip to lay 
down his arms. The building of the Chateau Gaillard, 
rapidly pushed forward by Richard, on a steep hill which 
overlooks Andelys and commands the course of the Seine, 
controlled the entrance to Normandy, on this side. The 
death of the Emperor Henry VI. deprived Philip Augus- 
tus of still another ally. Richard hastened to recognise 
his nephew, the Guelf Otto, elected king by a part of the 



406 FRENCH ROYALTY (1154-1370). 

German lords, whilst his rival favoured Philip of Swabia, 
brother of Henry VI. and Otto's opponent. The rivalry 
between France and England would have perhaps led to a* 
European war if Richard, wounded at the siege of Chains 
in Limousin, had not died prematurely (April, 1199). 

It was well for Philip, for besides being harassed by the 
Lion-Hearted, he was at odds with the Pope. 

4. Philip Augustus and Ingeborg. — Bereft of Isabella 
of Hainault, by whom he had one son, Louis, he married 
in 1193, for political reasons, Ingeborg, sister of Cnut IV., 
king of Denmark. Contemporaries agree in saying that 
the young princess was a model of virtue and a marvel of 
beauty. However, on the marriage day Philip took an 
aversion to her. Three months later he obtained from 
the tolerant bishops a sentence of divorce, based on the 
false statement that he was too nearly related to Inge- 
borg according to the laws of the Church. Then he 
married a German, Agnes, daughter of the duke of Meran. 
When Innocent III. was raised to the throne of Saint 
Peter he did not hesitate to punish this scandalous and 
illegal union. While acknowledging his indebtedness to 
the king and his kingdom, where, he said, " he had passed 
in study the years of his youth and where he had been 
initiated into all the sciences," he commanded Philip Au- 
gustus to take back his legitimate wife. " Whatever con- 
fidence your power may inspire in you," he wrote him, 
"you cannot face God, whose representative we are on 
earth; your pitiful, transient power would struggle in 
vain with the supreme force of divine and eternal 
Majesty." This haughty tone did not conquer the king's 
obstinacy. 

5. Philip Augustus Excommunicated. — The legate sum- 
moned then at Vienne, on the territory of the Empire, a 
certain number of prelates, some of them Philip's sub- 



INGEBORO qUEEN AND PRISONER. 407 

jects, and pronounced the excommunication which placed 
the royal domains under interdict. " All the churches 
shall be closed; no one may be admitted, unless to bap- 
tise infants; Mass may be celebrated once a week, Fridays, 
very early; on Sundays, the priests, instead of Mass, shall 
preach the word of God, but outside of the Church, in 
the porch. Those who come to confess must also be 
heard in the porch. All sacraments, even extreme 
unction, are forbidden, except bapti&m for newborn chil- 
dren and the viaticum for the dying. Priests must -warn 
laymen that it is an error and serious sin to bury the dead 
in unhallowed ground, but they must refuse them con- 
secrated land." It w^as unjust to punish an entire people 
for the fault of one man, but the general discontent made 
Philip reflect. He reluctantly consented to put aside 
Agnes of Meran and take back Ingeborg (September 7, 
1200). 

6. Ingeborg Queen and Prisoner. — The return of for- 
tune w^as not a return to favour for the wretched queen. 
Philip had hoped that a regular sentence of divorce would 
separate him from her forever. When he saw that he 
could not get it, he shut up his wife in prison, where she 
lacked everything, from the advice of a physician to the 
consolations of a priest; and, in spite of the intervention 
of Innocent III., her martyrdom lasted thirteen years. 
In 1213, when about to leave for the expedition to Eng- 
land, to which he was urged by the Pope, he declared 
solemnly that he would take back his wife. Perhaps he 
hoped in that way to revive his alliance with Denmark. 
This time he kept his promise. Set at liberty after an 
unjust and cruel captivity of twenty years Ingeborg lived, 
honoured, at her husband's side. She died in 1236, sixty 
years of age, after a life of trials, prayers, and alms- 
giving. 



408 FRENCH ROYALTY (1154-1270). 

7. John Lackland Treats with Philip Augustus, 1200.— 

A far-sighted and determined statesman would doubtless 
have taken advantage of the difficulties which Philip 
created for himself in this deplorable adventure; fortu- 
nately for him, Richard the Lion-Hearted had been suc- 
ceeded by his brother, John Lackland. John lacked 
neither intelligence nor courage, but he was guided by his 
vices. Without moral or religious scruples, he was 
treacherous and cruel; he was a bad man and a poor king. 
Philip Augustus lost no time in improving the oppor- 
tunity afforded him by the change in sovereigns. To 
Henry II. he had opposed Geoffrey, Eichard, and John, 
then John to Richard; then to John, his ally of a short 
time before, he opposed young Arthur, count of Brittany, 
Geoffrey's posthumous son, who might pretend to the 
throne of England. John was eager to treat with Philip, 
in order to strengthen his own situation. He yielded to 
him the county of Evreux, married his niece, Blanche of 
Castile, to Louis of France, and renounced Richard's alli- 
ances in Germany and Flanders; finally he acknowledged 
himself liege man of the king of France by paying Philip 
the feudal payment for the right of succession to his fiefs, 
two thousand pounds sterling. At this price, he was ac- 
knowledged king of England and duke of Normandy with 
homage of Brittany. Arthur was sacrificed. 

8. John Lackland Marries Isabella Taillefer, 1200. His 
Trial and Condemnation by the Court of Peers of Prance. 
— Soon after, John had his marriage with one of his 
cousins, contracted eleven years before, annulled by the 
Pope, since she was childless. Then he carried off Isa- 
hella Taillefer from her betrothed, Hugh of Lusignan, 
presumptive heir of the count de la Marche, and married 
her. The Lusignans were his vassals; they felt the 
affront all the more and revolted; and then refusing jus- 



PHILIP AUGUSTUS EXECUTES THE SENTENCE. 40& 

tice which John offered them at the head of an armed 
band of mercenaries, they appealed to the king of France, 
suzerain of their suzerain. Philip, enchanted at having- 
the opportunity, summoned his vassal several times to 
appear before his court, and, all legal delays having been 
exhausted, the peers of France, according to feudal law^ 
declared John guilty of felony (April, 1202). It was " a 
good judgment, very just! " Philip hastened to carry it 
out. He invaded Normandy while he sent young Ar- 
thur to Poitou with a small army. Arthur had just taken 
Mirebeau when John came from Rouen by forced marches, 
fell upon him unexpectedly, and made him and most of 
his men prisoners. What was the fate of the unfortu- 
nate prince? It is probable that, after making a futile 
attempt to have him assassinated in the castle of Falaise,. 
John killed him with his own hand at Eouen in 1203; 
but he was able to cover up his crime so as to evade 
human justice. 

9. Philip Augustus Executes the Sentence. Conquest 
of Normandy and Anjou, 1203-1206. — After this outburst 
of energy, John fell back into his natural indolence and 
let his subjects protect themselves as best they could 
against the French. Therefore Philip carried on the 
siege of Chateau Gaillard, and forced his way over the 
double circle of walls, after violent fighting. Rouen 
offered a superb resistance, but the citizens obliged the 
garrison to capitulate before the last resources were ex- 
hausted (June, 1204). The rest of the country was easily 
subdued. In this circumstance Jolin expiated his own and 
his predecessors' faults. In fact, Normandy had been 
oppressed by the despotic and military regime of Henry 
II. and Richard; how could she put any enthusiasm into a 
defence against an outsider? Anjou hastened to ac- 
knowledge the suzerainty of Philip Augustus, which took 



410 FRENCH ROYALTY (1154-1270). 

in also Poitiers, Loches, and Chinon. In 1206, when hos- 
tilities were suspended by a truce, the king of England 
liad lost all that he possessed north of the Loire, and the 
Angevin Empire was definitely overthrown. 

10. Philip Augustus Organises his Conquests. — Philip 
organised his conquests at the same time. He confiscated 
the lands belonging to nobles who were faithful to King 
John, and rewarded those who rallied about him. He 
ratified the privileges of cities and churches, or granted 
ihem new ones; he gave Eouen her liberty, endowed Pont- 
Audemer, Poitiers, Saint-Jean d'Angely, and Mort with 
a municipal organisation borrowed from the establish- 
ments of Eouen. So the provinces had no need to feel 
that they were submitting to a conqueror in accepting the 
new regime, for this, for the time being, seemed only 
l:)eneficiaL 

11. John Lackland Excommunicated, 1213. Coalition 
against France. — John had not exhausted his follies nor 
Philip his advantages. The tyrannical king of England 
liad incensed the nobility, then, what was more serious, 
the clergy. Pope Innocent III. excommunicated him and 
charged Philip Augustus to dethrone him. He was on the 
point of leaving when stopped by a papal legate. John 
in fact had even then yielded and acknowledged himself 
a vassal of the Holy See (1213). Irritated by this piece 
of ill-luck, Philip threw his army into Flanders, whose 
count was John Lackland^s ally; but his fleet was sur- 
prised and burned in the harbour of Damme. John em- 
ployed the winter in organising a coalition, entered into 
I)y several lords of northern France: Ferrand, count of 
Flanders; Eenaud, count of Boulogne, and foreign princes, 
«uch as the count of Hainault, and the emperor of Ger- 
many, Otto IV. It was decided to attack France simul- 
taneously at two points: on the north, where an English 



PHILIP AUGUSTUS VICTORIOUS AT BOUVINES. 411 

contingent would Join the allies, and on the west, where 
John would lead the army in person. 

12. John Lackland Conquered at La Roche-au-Moine, 
1214. — John took the offensive. He disembarked at La 
Eochelle, took Angers, and laid seige to La Koche- 
au-Moine, a fortress on the road between Angers 
and Nantes. Louis of France hastened to the suc- 
cour of the place, but he was not called upon to 
fight, for the English, panic-stricken, fled, abandoning 
their baggage and machines of war. 

13. Philip Augustus Victorious at Bouvines. — In the 
meantime the allies were massing at Valenciennes. With 
the chivalry of Brabant, Lorraine, Westphalia, Saxony, 
and England stood the formidable militia furnished by 
the Flemish towns. Philip gathered his vassals together 
at Peronne, with the communal militia of Picardy, France, 
and Chambord. It seemed like two nations in arms 
against each other, struggling for their existence. The 
encounter took place near the bridge of Bouvines, July 
27. As in most of the feudal battles, no order was 
observed in attack; the onslaught was terrible. Philip 
Augustus, while trying to reach the emperor, was un- 
horsed and but for the strength of his armour would have 
been killed; Otto IV. just escaped falling into the hands 
of William des Barres, the most high-spirited of French 
knights. At last the count of Flanders on the left 
wing, and Renaud of Boulogne on the right, were taken 
in a fierce struggle; Germans, English, and Flemings 
turned and fled; the men of Brabant, fearless in the 
general rout, stood their ground and were all massacred. 
The victory for the French was complete, and the coali- 
tion was broken up at once. Great was the enthusiasm 
in France. In Paris, students, clergy, and people went 
out to meet the king, singing hymns; and the city was 



412 FRENCH ROYALTY (1154-1270). 

illuminated for seven nights. Otto IV. lost the German 
crown; John Lackland brought a truce for five 3'ears, 
paying sixty thousand marks^ and went back, twice con- 
quered, to his own. kingdom, where he was met by civil 
war. ^ 

14. Civil War in England. Expedition of Louis of 
Prance; Its Failure. — In truth, the nobility of the king- 
dom, that is to say, the principal barons and high clergy, 
aided by the citizens of several l.arge towns, revolted 
against a control that had resulted in so many humilia- 
tions and disasters. They first compelled the king to 
sign the Magna Charta, then, when the king violated it, 
they invited to the throne John's nephew by marriage, 
Louis of France, only son of Philip Augustus. False 
Tumours were skilfully circulated. John, it was whis- 
pered, had been condemned to death for the murder of 
Arthur of Brittany; consequently he had lost his rights 
to the crown, which devolved legally on Louis of France, 
husband of Blanche of Castile. The reasons were false, 
but specious; they lent an appearance of right, so dear 
to Philip Augustus, to Louis's expedition. Louis disem- 
barked at Stonar, received the homage of his subjects at 
London, and pursued the wretched king, who finally died 
in despair (October 19, 1216). He left two sons. The 
oldest, Henry IIL, was ten. As the majority of the barons 
had acknowledged the French pretender, the cause of the 
Angevin dynasty seemed lost. But the son was innocent 
of the crimes of the father, and his youth saved him. 
The papal legate organised the government; the little 
king was crowned and the Magna Charta confirmed. On 
the other hand, the Pope excommunicated Louis of 
France, who was waging an unjust war on his vassal. 
Henceforth the pretender's partisans gradually aban- 
doned him. Defeated near Lincoln, he was only too 



CHILDHOOD OF SAINT LOUIS. 413 

happy to renounce his rights and return to France with 
the remains of his army (1217). 

15. Expedition of Louis VIII. into Poitou, 1224.— This 
blow brought the French kings back to a realising sense 
of things. They gave up such dishonest and hazardous 
expeditions to pursue the interrupted execution of the 
judgment of 1202. Louis VIII., who had Just succeeded 
his father (July 14, 1223), invaded Poitou, which was 
disturbed by the bitter intrigues of Hugh X. of Lusignan 
and his wife Isabella Taillefer, widow of John Lackland 
and mother of Henry III. His interests in the south and 
his premature death (November 8, 1226), gave England 
a long respite. 

16. Remarkable Growth of the Royal Domain under 
Philip Augustus and Louis VIII. — The reigns of Philip 
Augustus and Louis VIII. were decisive ones in Capetian 
history. These kings had increased the crown domains, 
and consequently royal power,, to a large extent- They 
had acquired or conquered, in the north, the county of 
Artois, taken from Flanders, and the county of Verman- 
dois; on the south a part of Berry with Bourges and 
Issoudun, as well as the largest part of Auvergne; they 
had wrested from England all Normandy, almost all of 
Anjou, a part of Poitou with Poitiers, Saintes, and La 
Rochelle. A third campaign, led by Louis VIII. against 
the Albigenses {Cathari) of Languedoc, opened the way 
for royal control in the south. Louis IX. was to carry 
out and complete this work by means of a peaceful, manly 
policy. 

17. Childhood of Saint Louis. His Character.— He 
who was to be Saint Louis was born at Poissy, April 25, 
1215. He was eleven years old on the death of his 
father, Louis VIII. His mother, Blanche of Castile, lost 
no time in having him crowned at Rheims and assuming 



414 FRENCH ROYALTY (1154-1270). 

ihe guardianship of the child. In reality, she governed 
the realm until her son's majority, whilst watching over 
his education with a tenderness both intelligent and domi- 
neering. She did not try to make a scholar of him. 
She had him taught Latin, the language of holy books 
and the chancellor's office, so that he might read the 
Bible and charters; but she provided him with masters 
capable above all of teaching him how to govern with 
loyalty, wisdom, and firmness. Of a gentle, devout nature, 
an upright, good character, a playful wit, slightly tinged 
with mischief, Louis IX. made good use of his lessons. 
He was one of the most upright men of his time. His 
devotion, at times excessive, was tempered by the healthy 
habits of an exceedingly active life. When grown a man, 
he became an accomplished knight. It may be said of 
him that he had all virtues, and those of his own times 
he possessed in a superlative degree. 

His reign comprises two long periods separated by tlie 
seventh crusade. (In the first (1226-1248) he had to 
struggle with great feudal lords among the lait}^; the 
second (1254-1270) was given up to the interior reform 
of his kingdom. 

18. Minority of Louis IX. Struggles for Feudalism, 
1226-1234. — The high nobility looked with a jealous eye 
on the progress accomplished by royalty within a quarter 
of a centuiy. It tried to weaken it during the minority 
of Louis IX. The leader of the dissatisfied nobles was a 
certain prince of the house of France, Pierre Mauclerc, 
younger brother of Eobert de Dreux. He had married a 
daughter whom Constance of Brittany, mother of the 
wretched Arthur, had had by a second marriage with 
Aimery of Thenars, and through his wife he had become 
count of Brittany. At four different times he succeeded 
in uniting against France the king of England, the 



LOUIS IX, AND THE APPANAGES. 415 

Liisignans, the count of Toulouse, and others; but he was 
poorly supported. The king of England could not or 
would not help him at the most opportune time, in 1227; 
he accomplished nothing in the expedition which he did 
undertake in 1230, and he finally abandoned Pierre in 
1234. Mauclerc was obliged to go, with a cord around 
his neck, to beg pardon of the king of France. He 
gave up his best fortresses, swore fidelity to the king and 
regent, and promised to go to the Holy Land for five 
years. During this same time Thibaud the Singer, count 
of Champagne, tenderly attached to Blanche of Castile 
and until then bound to the royal cause, inherited the 
kingdom of Navarre and assumed the bearing of an inde- 
pendent prince. A half-formed league which he planned 
was suppressed by the rapid concentration of royal troops; 
exiled for seven years, he was sent to join Pierre Mauclerc 
in the Orient. The two counts set off with the most 
turbulent of their followers and relieved the kingdom 
of a dangerous element. That same year Louis IX. mar- 
ried Marguerite of Provence. He attained his majority 
soon after (April 25, 1236) and began to reign alone. 
Henceforth he followed his own will, and, although his 
mother exercised a strong influence over the government, 
he played the leading part. 

19. Louis IX. and the Appanages. — After Louis IX., 
his brothers Eobert, iVlfonso, and Charles attained suc- 
cessively their majority, and the fiefs which Louis VIII. 
had designated for them were constituted appanages. It 
was a dangerous precedent, which recalled the process of 
dismemberment of the kingdom under the Merovingian 
and Carolingian princes. It is true that the act was less 
serious. The fiefs with which Louis VIII. endowed his 
children were all recently acquired, and complete sov- 
ereignty was not given with them; besides, by giving 



416 FRENCH ROYALTY (1154-1270). 



ihem to princes of France, their absorption into the royal 
domain was delayed and the indi\dduality of peoples, who 
were later to blend in extended French union, was flat- 
tered. In 1237 Eobert, becoming of age, was knighted 
during the festivities given at Compiegne, and had the 
county of Artois. Four years later Alfonso was given the 
county of Poitou, whither he went to receive the homage 
of his vassals. 

20. "War in Poitou, 1242. Termination of the Oreat 
Tendal War, 1244. — Hugh le Brun, Count de la Marche, 
at first took the oath of fealty to him, but his wife taunted 
him with this submission as being a cowardly act, and 
urged him to form a coalition, to which she attracted 
several princes of the south, as well as the kings of Cas- 
tile, Aragon, and England. It is said that they sounded 
Pierre Mauclerc, biit he immediately denounced the con- 
spiracy to Louis IX., who gave him lands and the title of 
marshal. Henry III. led an army into Poitou. Louis 
IX. intercepted him on the Charente, forced the bridge 
of Tailiebourg by a skilful flank movement, defeated the 
English near Saintes, where Henry III. was almost made 
prisoner^ and pursued him to Blaye. Autumn and a con- 
tagions disease which broke out in the army compelled 
him to stop. Elsewhere, the kings of Castile and Aragon, 
occupied at home, did not stir. In Languedoc, the vis- 
count of Beziers and Carcassonne vainly tried to rouse 
Ms people to revolt, by turning to account their exaspera- 
tion against the excesses of the inquisitors for the faith. 
The count of Toulouse, Eaymond VII., was detained by 
illness and was granted peace only on condition of renew- 
ing, at Lorris, the treaty of 1224. Finally Henry suc- 
ceeded in having a truce proclaimed, which, renewed 
several times, lasted imtil 1259. In 1244 the great 



1 



PEACE WITH ENGLAND. 417 

feudal war was ended, and the conquests of France were 
definitely established on every side. 

21. Temperate Policy of Louis IX. The Seventh Cru- 
sade, 1248-1254. — During this time the war raged be- 
tween the Empire and the Papacy. Frederick II. tried 
to win Louis IX. to his side by representing to him that 
his cause was that of all kings; later Innpcent IV. tried to 
drag him into the quarrel by convoking, in France, the 
assembly in which he intended to denounce the emperor. 
Saint Louis was able to resist both; he persistently re- 
fused to consider the emperor, even excommunicated, as 
the Antichrist described in the Apocalyse. He would like 
to have reconciled the two adversaries and turned their 
forces to the defence of the Holy Land. In this he was 
unsuccessful and he had to bear the entire burden of the 
seventh crusade. Yet his firm, temperate, and concilat- 
ing course bore fruit. He carried out leisurely his 
military preparations, left the government in his 
mother's hands for a term of six years, exhausted the 
Toyal treasure and spilled the best blood of France in a 
disastrous expedition; all this without the peace of the 
kingdom being troubled except by a dangerous uprising 
of peasants, that of the Pastoureaux (1251). Even the 
death of Blanche of Castile (November 28, 1252), which 
plunged Louis into mourning, did not shake the throne. 
On Ills return in 1254 he was received like a conqueror. 
He had exemplified in the Orient the ideal of a Christian 
hero. 

22. Peace with England; Treaty of Paris, December 4, 
1259. — From that time, and during sixteen profitable 
years, he devoted himself to the maintenance of peace by 
means of a Judicious administration and wise foreign 
policy. Foreign relations continued to harass him, 



418 FRENCH R07ALTT (1154-1270). 

especially those with England. Henry III.^ his brother- 
in-law, tried to hamper him, either by accepting, for his 
son Edmund, the Sicilian crown, or by furthering the 
election of his brother, Eichard of Cornwall, to be king 
of Germany. Fearing a joint attack from the English 
and Germans, the king inspected his frontiers and organ- 
ised deliberately a strong defence. But they did not come 
to extremes. The troops which were levied by the Pope 
with English gold were beaten at every point by Manfred, 
son of Frederick 11. Eichard of Cornwall never possessed 
more than the shadow of royal power in Germany; finally 
a new civil war broke out in England. Henry III. there- 
fore decided to negotiate. He renounced forever Nor- 
mandy, Maine, Anjou, and Poitou; on his side the king of 
France ceded to Henry his rights as suzerain of Limou- 
sin, Quercy, and Perigord. The territory left to the king 
of England formed the duchy of Guienne, which did 
liege homage to the crown of France. The conditions 
were equitable, since they spared English pride yet at 
the same time demanded the necessary sacrifices; they 
brought nearer together the kings of the two realms, 
rivals since the time of William the Conqueror. Henry 
III. came to Paris to ratify the treaty, in the presence of a 
host of English and French knights (December 4, 1259). 
JSTothing but a memory of the Angevin Empire remained; 
the treaty of Paris, sometimes wrongfully called the 
treaty of Abbeville, has been much discussed, but it laid 
the foundations for the greatness of the Capetian mon« 
archy, by acquiring rich provinces, free and wide access 
to the sea; in a word, it secured a territorial and com- 
mercial position of the first class. 

23. Peace with Aragon; Treaty of Perpignan, 1258. — 
Shortly before this Saint Louis concluded with the king 
of Aragon the treaty of Corbeil or Perpignan, in whichi 



THE KING'S DEATH BEFORE TUNIS, 1270. 419 

he gave up the suzerainty of Roussillon and the former 
county of Barcelona; whilst the king of Aragon renounced 
his pretensions to several countries subject, before the 
war against the Albigenses, to the dominion of the count 
of Toulouse, whose heir was Alfonso of Poitiers, brother 
of the king of France. 

24. The Eighth Crusade. — Fortune favoured Saint 
Louis. The revolt of the English barons against Henry 
III. forced the latter to abandon his enterprise in Sicily; 
Charles, count of Anjou and Provence, took it up in the 
name and with the support of the Holy See. In Ger- 
many Eichard of Cornwall met with a competitor in the 
king of Castile, Alfonso X., and reigned without glory or 
consideration. A cunning politician would doubtless 
have tried to profit by these favourable circumstances, 
but Louis IX. refused to recognise any enemies except 
infidels. In 1254 he had left the Holy Land regretfully; 
he proclaimed a new crusade in a solemn parliament held 
at Paris, March 25, 1267. Vainly did the Pope, Clement 
IV., try to dissuade him from it; vainly was he shown the 
indifference of his dearest friends, such as Joinville, 
towards a doomed expedition; his own strength even was 
so slight that he could scarcely sit his horse, but he was not 
a man to draw back from the duty of a lifetime, and he 
went away, March, 1270, for that land of Africa whence 
he was never to return. 

25. The King's Death Before Tunis, 1270. Canonisa- 
tion of Saint Louis, 1297. — He died under the walls of 
Tunis, x\ugust 25, on the very day when his brother 
Charles, one of the most enthusiastic promoters of the 
expedition, finally arrived with reinforcements. The 
news of his death roused deep feeling throughout Europe. 
Along the route of the funeral train, in Italy and France, 
miracles took place, it is said. After three solemn sit- 



420 FRENCH ROYALTY (1154-1370). 

tings^ the Church decided to express the popular senti- 
ment by raising Louis IX. to the rank of the saints (1297). 
In the ideas of the times, this was the highest honour 
which could be conferred on a man. It was deserved, and 
it has lent its lustre to the entire Capetian dynasty. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROYALTY.* 

1. Character of Capetian Royalty. — Royalty, in passing 
from the Carolingians to the Capetians, did not change, 
at least theoretically, in character. The first Capetians 
looked upon themselves as the legitimate successors of 
Charlemagne, and aspired to govern in his way, as sover- 
eigns, ^vith the support of the nobility and the Church. 
They believed that they took their power from God, and 
in fact the coronation gave a kind of sacerdotal character 
to their office. But, whilst being and wishing to appear 
actual kings, they were aifected by the new conditions of 
feudal society. The election which gave Hugh Capet the 
crown made him the suzerain of all the nobles rather than 
the sovereign of his subjects. It took three centuries of 
slow progress to make the royal character of the Capetian 
monarchy predominate over its feudal character. 

2. The Kingdom Becomes Hereditary. — In the tenth 
century the kingdom had ceased to be hereditary. 
But for more than three centuries fortune favoured the 

*SoTiRCES. — To the works noted for the last chapter add: Boileau: 
*'Le Livre des Metiers de Paris," edition of Lespinasse (1888). 
" Les litablissements de Saint Louis," edition of P. Viollet (4 vols., 
1881-1886). 

Literature. — Luchaire, "Histoire des Institutions Monarchiques 
de la France sous les premiers Capetiens, 987-1180," second edition, 
and" Manuel," as above; Glasson as above; Vuitry, " Etudes sur le 
Regime financier de la France avant la Revolution," vol. i.; 
Langlois, "Les Origines de Parlement de Paris," in the "Revue 
Historique," vol. xlii,; Giry, " Manuel de diplomatique." 

421 



422 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROTALTT. 

Capetians in securing them male heirs in the direct line, 
and the care which the sovereigns took to associate their 
oldest sons with them on the throne reestablished the 
old tradition. Philip Augustus was the last to reign 
thus conjointly with his father; neither Louis YIII. nor 
Louis IX. began by being " designated kings." Since the 
thirteenth century it was an absolute principle that, in 
Prance, monarchy was hereditary. 

3. Minority and Guardianship. — A guardian was ap- 
pointed if the king were a minor; thus Philip Augustus 
had the count of Flanders, and Blanche of Castile was 
regent for Saint Louis; but the age of majority was not 
fixed for kings. Saint Louis was declared major at the 
usual age of majority among the nobility, that is at 
twenty-one. 

4. The Appanages. — The crown domains were not di- 
vided among the several male children of the king, as was 
frequently the case in the greater feudal families; yet it 
was not rare for the king to give those of his children 
who did not reign recently acquired fiefs or appanages ; in 
this way Eobert, brother of Henry I., had Burgundy, and 
the three brothers of Louis IX. had Artois, Poitou, and 
Anjou. There were no unfortunate results from this 
custom during the thirteenth century, because the princes 
owning appanages set an example of respect towards the 
king. In the following century this was no longer the 
case. 

5. The Queen. Her Place at Court and in the Govern- 
ment. — The queen filled an important place beside that of 
the king. She was crowned also, and down to the twelfth 
century her name appeared at the end of royal diplomas; 
but she exerted no visible influence in the government. 
Blanche of Castile wielded authority only after her hus- 
band's death. Marguerite of Provence, greatly beloved 



THE HIGH OFFICERS OF THE CROWN. 423 

by Saint Louis, and who bore him eleven children, was 
resolutely set aside from public affairs when she tried to 
create a court party in her favour. This consecrated and 
holy royalty was virile, because it realised and felt respon- 
sible for its rights. 

6. Royal Authority Limited by the Privileges of Feu- 
dalism. — Koyalty was restrained in the exercise of its 
power by the privileges of feudalism. Doubtless the king 
was recognised throughout the territory limited by the 
treaty of Verdun, but in fact he governed only his own 
■domains. There solely did he exercise in full his legis- 
lative, financial, and judicial rights. Elsewhere he could 
neither legislate nor levy subsidies, except with the con- 
sent of the seigniors. Moreover, the secular and ecclesi- 
astical feudal lords helped him in reigning and govern- 
ing, by providing his high officers, the heads of his house- 
hold, and members of his council. 

7. The High Officers of the Crown. — In the twelfth cen- 
tur)^ there were five chief officers: the seneschal, the 
oellarer, the chamberlain, the constable, and the chancel- 
lor. Their functions were both domestic and political; 
iheir names figured usually at the foot of royal charters. 
They seemed to be the necessary instruments of royalty. 

The seneschal {senisoaUus, dapifer) had charge of the 
king's table, but he was above everything else chief of the 
feudal army. Tie directed the royal agents entrusted 
Tvith the administration of the domain; he dispensed 
justice conjointly with other high officials. It has been 
asserted that the office was hereditary in the house of 
Anjou. This is an error, but it was very important; there- 
fore, after the death of Thibaut V. of Champagne (1191), 
Philip Augustus refrained from appointing his successor 
and thereafter the office remained vacant. 

The cellarer (buticularius, pincerna) administered the 



424 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN BOTALTT. 

royal vineyards and their products; he had cup-bearers 
under his orders. In the twelfth century the office was 
hereditary in the La Tour and Senlis families. 

The chamberlain (camerarius) enjoyed high authority 
under Henry I. and Philip I.; in the twelfth century his 
functions were merely domestic, in the interior of the 
palace, with a stated number of chamberlains under him. 

The constable {constabularius) had charge of the king's 
stables. This sphere of action was enlarged after the 
disappearance of the office of seneschal. After that time 
he commanded the royal army; the marshals arose ta 
power with him. 

8. The Chancellor and the Royal Seal. — The chancellor 
(cancellarius) was charged with drawing up, writing, and 
issuins^ roval charters. He was also entrusted with, the 
keeping of the royal seal, which was affixed to acts to 
ensure their authenticity. The chancellor was always a 
priest, often a bishop. His powers, especially in judicial 
matters, were so extended that they were more than once 
suspended, as during almost the entire reign of Philip 
Augustus. 

9. The Six Departments of the Kingly Household. — 
The king's household was divided into six services: the 
bread-room, wine-cellar, kitchen, fruit storeroom, stable, 
and chambers. They were supervised by high officials 
and vast sums were spent in keeping thena up. We know 
indeed that in 1256 the household expenses were 2468 
livres in money of Tours, a sum equal to a million of our 
money. 

10. The King's Court. — The king's council or court 
(curia regis) stood for the former assemblies of nobles of 
the Carolingian kings, their tribunal, their council, and 
the feudal courts of the former counts of Paris and dukes 
of Prance. In the thirteenth century there were distin- 



JURISDICTION OF THE KINO'S COURT. 425^ 

guishable in it several elements of varied origin and im- 
portance. First there were certain prelates and high 
feudal lords, under the immediate dependence of the 
king and called peers {pares). The number seems never 
to have been determined, but there were early six eccle- 
siastical pee:s: the archbishop (duke) of Eheims, the 
bishops of Beauvais (count), Noyon (count), Laon (duke),. 
Chalons (count), and Langres (duke), and it may be in- 
ferred that there were six lay peers. The king of France 
was represented as surrounded by his twelve peers, as 
Jesus, in the Bible, with his twelve apostles; Charlemagne, 
in the chansons de geste, with his twelve peers; and Arthur,, 
in the Round Table, with his twelve companions. But 
no case has ever been cited in which this court of twelve 
peers was called together to deliberate. After 1224 the 
high officers of the crown take their place beside the 
peers. In the lowest rank, still very subordinate, were 
the members of the king's household, the palatines, and 
lawj^ers drawn from the clerical body (clerici), or the 
lower nobility {milites, knights by law). These modest 
servants were useful workmen; they were always at their 
posts, while the nobles of the realm often refrained from • 
appearing. They were also the natural defenders of the 
king's interests, by whose favour alone they could rise, and 
they worked silently for the strengthening of royal 
authority. 

11. Jurisdiction of the King's Court. Division of Jus- 
tice and Division of Finance. — The king^s court was ex- 
tremely important. It was the supreme council of the 
government and the centre of royal administration; it 
was also a tribunal sitting even in the king's absence. 
However, in Saint Louis's time it had neither fixed days 
nor places for its sittings; it met wherever the king might 
be, and when there was need of it. However, at that 



426 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROYALTY. 



time, certain eases were already taken before regular di- 
Tisions of the council; justice was rendered in the section 
called Parlement, which -usually held its sittings in Paris; 
another, soon known as the Chamber of Accounts, verified 
the accounts of royal agents. Two of the most celebrated 
institutions of old France already existed in embryo in 
the court of Saint Louis. This court rendered decisions 
and pronounced judgments; but it made no general laws, 
nor voted taxes. 

12. Agents of the Domain. The Provost. — Several 
linds of agents were employed by the Capetian kings in 
the administration of their domains. In some towns, a3 
in Paris, Melun, Corbeil, Etampes, and Sens, there were 
still viscounts, as during the Carolingian period, but 
their ofhce was hereditary, and except at Sens they early 
■disappeared. The chatelains were agents of like nature 
and perhaps of like origin; they built up powerful feudal 
houses, especially in Flanders. They were put in charge 
of fortresses, or the main tower of some large city, and 
held the right of jurisdiction over the territory dependent 
on the castle. But until the end of the twelfth century 
the principal agents of royalty were the provosts {pTce- 
fositi) of the free tenant class order (roturiers). They 
"were charged with the administration of parts of the do- 
main, dispensing justice and levying taxes. Eoyalty felt 
the greatest interest in this last function; the office of 
provost was sold at auction, which, however, did not al- 
ways prevent its becoming hereditary. The provosts 
drew no salary, but had a certain interest in the revenues 
of their office, so they were tempted to increase the income 
in every possible way, to the detriment of the tax- 
payers. 

13. Bailiffs and Seneschals. — In order to supervise the 
provost, Philip Augustus made the institution of bailiffs 






AUTHORITY OF THE BAILIFFS. 427 

a general one (1190). Although under a different name, 
these magistrates were nothing more than the old Caro- 
lingian counts. They had, like them, military, financial, 
and judicial functions: they replaced the high seneschal. 
They were always chosen from among the nobility. By 
enlarging the royal domain, Philip Augustus and Louis 
VIII. increased the number of bailiffs; under Saint Louis 
there were twenty bailiwicks in the north besides the prov^ 
ostship of Paris, which was an actual bailiwick. In the 
south and west the term bailiff was replaced by seneschal,, 
but the seneschals were of higher nobility than bailiffs 
and controlled a larger extent of territory. Under Saint 
Louis there were five royal seneschalships in the south, 
not including those which the count of Poitiers had in- 
stituted in his vast domains. Bailiffs and seneschals were 
appointed and removed by the king and as he willed, ex- 
cept the provost of Paris, until the day when Stephen 
Boileau, able and honest magistrate, was named by Saint 
Louis with " wages good and great." So that they might 
not become independent like the former counts, royalty 
took care to remove them often. Thus Philip de Eemi, 
sire of Beaumanoir, son of a bailiff of Artois, and an emi- 
nent administrator and jurist, was successively bailiff' of 
Artois and Clermont in Beauvaisis, seneschal of Poitou 
and Saintonge, and finally bailiff of Vermandois and 
Senlis. His average term of office in each one of these 
positions was tliree years. For another reason, easily 
understood, seneschals in the south were always chosen 
from among the northern nobility. Seneschals and 
bailiffs came to Paris every year to render an account of 
their office to the Parliament. 

14. Authority of the Bailiffs outside of the Royal Bo- 
main. — Their authority was not confined within their 
bailiwicks or seneschalships. Empowered to exact, for 



428 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROYALTY. 

ihe king, feudal rights and military service, they were 
necessarily led to interfere in the domestic affairs of the 
large fiefs. Thus Brittany was, in a way, a part of the 
hailiwick of Tours, Burgundy of Macon, Aquitaine of the 
seneschalship of Perigord. The bailiwicks and seneschal- 
«hips became centres ready to engulf and assimilate, little 
by little, the divisions of France which still escaped the 
•direct action of royalty. 

15. The Inspectors. — The greater the power of the 
agents, the greater the temptation to abuse it. Saint 
Xiouis watched them closely. By virtue of two celebrated 
ordinances, promulgated in 1254 and 1256, they were re- 
quired to swear to do justice to all, without excepting any- 
one; to preserve intact the kingly rights; and to refrain 
irom any act of corruption or abuse of power. At the 
-expiration of their term of office they had to remain for 
iorty days in their province, so that anyone might present 
-his legitimate claims for settlement. They were besides 
subject to the restraint of inspectors (enqueteurs). 

Philip Augustus had already sent throughout the prov- 
ostships special officers, chosen from his council and em- 
j)owered to readjust imposts, and conduct inquests into 
any act whatsoever. Saint Louis made this institution 
general, and it grew to be one of the benefits of his reign. 
These inspectors were either knights, simple lawyers, 
jnonks, or canons. They resembled the missi dominici of 
Charlemagne, yet possessed more power over the agents 
to be supervised. They received all complaints against 
Toyal officers; they could remove provosts from office and 
other inferior agents, but not inculpated bailiffs. They 
^ave judgment without appeal, or else sent the case up to 
ihe king's court. Saint Louis sent them out especially 
-through provinces which he had recently acquired, to re- 
pair the evils caused by the conquest. 



PARIS m THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 429" 

16. Beginnings of French Centralisation. — At the time 
of Saint Louis's death, the administration of the royal 
domains comprised tAvo degrees. In the upper degree 
were bailiffs and seneschals, noble, salaried functionaries,, 
drawn from the king's court; in the lower degree, beside 
the provosts, who were the oldest low-born agents of the 
domain, there were still in Normandy the viscounts, in 
the south viguiers and hailes; these various names stood 
for similar functions. We have therefore the beginning- 
of the centralisation of administrative power, that is to 
say, what contributed most to bring about French unity. 

17. The Cities of the Domain. — Dating from Philip Au- 
gustus, cities were in the lists of the royal administration. 
Saint Louis wished to bring a little method into the con- 
fused municipal administration. He decided, and pro- 
mulgated in ordinances of 1256 and 1261, the rule that the 
election for mayors in all the " good cities '' of the do- 
main, should take place, each year, on the 29th of 
October; that the rendering of municipal accounts should 
be given also every year, before the king at Paris, the 
18th of N'ovembcr, by the new mayor, the ex-mayor, and 
four notables; it was forbidden the communes to make 
any loans without the permission of the king, or anr 
present, unless it were " wine in a jug or barrel." There 
was great need of supervising municipal finances, which 
were often compromised by the extravagant expenditure 
of the cities, the incompetency of their magistrates, or 
the exactions of royalty. The two crusades of Saint 
Louis, for instance, demanded great sacrifices on the part 
of cities. Some among them, unable to pay their debts, 
became insolvent, and their affairs had to be liquidated. 

18. Paris in the Thirteenth Century. — Paris, that had 
definitely become the capital of the kingdom since the ac- 
cession of the Capetians, and one of the favourite resi- 



430 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROTALTT. 

dences of the kings, received no municipal institutions 
until late, and then they werie sparingly given. Tlie 
corporations were mostly in the dependence of crown 
officers. Thus, the bakers were subject to the crown 
baker; the drapers, mercers, tailors, and upholsterers, to 
the chamberlain; the wine merchants and tavernkeepers 
io the cellarer; the blacksmiths and other iron workers, 
to the marshal. The most flourishing of all these cor- 
porations was that which had the exclusive right to the 
traffic by water on the Seine, throughout and beyond the 
city. The guild of merchants trading by water {mar- 
£jiands de Veau) as it was called, had, in the thirteenth cen- 
tury, echevins and a provost, the provost of the mer- 
chants. This was the first municipal body of the city. 
It met in the Parloir aux bourgeois, situated first in the 
neighbourhood of the Chatelet, and later it was removed 
to a house just within the city wall, near the gateway of 
Saint Jacques. It had its heraldic devices which revived 
memories of the old college or body of Nautce parisiaci. 
About this same time the king's provost at Paris, Ste- 
phen Boileau, had a register made out of the various cus- 
toms of the tradesmen's guilds. It is known as the 
■'^Book of Trades," a work of inestimable value for the 
study of Parisian industries in the thirteenth century. 

The administration, thus systematised, included then 
"but three high public branches: justice, finances, and the 
army. 

19. Royal Justice. — Within the royal domain justice 
was dispensed to the lower classes by the provosts, the 
Tiscounts (in Normandy), the viguiers and judges (in the 
south); to nobles by bailiffs and seneschals, aided by the 
jures. The assistant judges (assesseurs), were chosen 
from among men of the same social condition as the 
suitors, for it was eustomar}^ for each one to be judged by 



REFORMS IN PROCEEDINGS OF LAW. 431 

his peers, but outside of their family. Saint Louis ex- 
tended the powers of bailiffs and seneschals by authoris- 
ing them to give judgment without appeal on sentences 
already pronounced by provosts or even in seigniorial 
courts, as well as in the municipal courts of territories 
under the " obedience of the king." Appealing a case • 
was a new point in feudal legislation, and it was one step 
forward towards centralisation of administrative power. 
The king held his tribunal, it might be, as Joinville re- 
lates of Saint Louis, seated under an oak in the Vincennes 
forest, or at the entrance to his palace in Paris, to judge, 
without delay, expense, and discussion, his subjects' quar- 
rels; or it might be that he called the suitors to appear 
before his court or Parlement. There were regular sit- 
tings of the Parlement of Paris dating from 1254, and 
from that time, following a custom which Saint Louis 
had observed in Cyprus, a register was kept of the deci- 
sions of the court. The oldest of the rea:isters which have 
been preserved are called Olim, from the first word of the 
first page of one of them. 

20. Reforms in Proceedings of Law. — Tribunals in the 
south judged according to " written law," that is Koman 
law; in the north and in cities of the south which had ac- 
quired communal charters, according to " customary 
law," or unwritten law. In the thirteenth century 
royalty introduced new methods in proceedings and new 
penal laws. In a law-suit, down to that time, the parties 
in a suit exhausted all the annoying methods of chicanery, 
each asserted under oath or by witnesses the truth of his 
statements, and the judge, much perplexed, left it to God 
to decide; he commanded the duel. Common freemen 
were armed with clubs and nobles with weapons of Avar; 
the suit was decided before the tribunal, in the lists; the 
vanquished got the blows and paid the fine. Sometimes 



432 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROYALTY, 

one of the parties challenged the other by sending a gag^ 
de hataillc. Saint Louis forbade challenges and duels in 
his domains (1216). Instead of allowing the suitors to 
.fight, the judge ordered an inquiry to be held, heard dif- 
ferent witnesses, and gave judgment according to the 
testimony. This was more just and reasonable. There 
was another method still. A judgment once rendered in 
court was, in pure feudal law, irrevocable; the loser had 
but one uncertain resource, that is to declare that the 
.sentence pronounced against him was " false and bad/' 
-and challenge each one of his judges, in succession, to 
single combat. In this event. Saint Louis allowed the 
loser to appeal {fausser le jugement) to the tribunal of the 
.suzerain, as was already done when the suzerain refused 
to show justice to his vassal. Moreover, if this time he 
refused to accept the judgment pronounced when ap- 
pealed, he could resort to the amendement, or beg the tri- 
bunal to correct or amend the sentence. All these meas- 
ures tended to augment the importance of the Parlement, 
T3y increasing the number of cases brought before this 
court. 

21. Unusual Penalties. — The punishments meted out 
to criminals were increased in number as Philip Augustus 
.and Saint Louis were led, through their religious beliefs, 
to issue penalties against usurers, Jews, blasphemers, and 
heretics. The Church had always forbidden loans at 
interest and looked upon usury as a sin; usurers, under the 
name of Lombards or Cahorsins, the bankers of that 
time, were expelled in 1268 from the realm. Jews were 
Ihe most hated. Not only were they accused of exacting 
high rates of interest on loans, but of profaning the holy 
vases which priests left with them as pledges; it was even 
said that on certain feast days they sacrificed Christian 
children. Philip Augustus drove them out of his do- 



THE POLICE, 433 

mains, confiscated their landed property, and turned their 
synagogues into churches. Nevertheless they returned. 
Saint Louis forbade loans at interest (1230); he cut down 
the Jews to a third of their belongings, in that way be- 
lieving that he punished usury by diminishing its sup- 
posed earnings; finally he commanded them to wear a 
badge sewed on their clothing; it was a wheel of yellow 
cloth which distinguished them from Christians and af- 
forded the latter a means of avoiding them. Philip Au- 
gustus punished blasphemers with corporal punishment 
and a fine; Saint Louis added the pillory and prison, 
branding of the lips with hot iron, and for children, the 
whip. Extreme rigour was shown heretics after the end 
of the twelfth century. They were sent to the stake. 
These extreme penalties were only too much in accord 
with the spirit of the times. 

22. The so-called Establishments of Saint Louis. — Dur- 
ing this time law, which was taught in various schools, 
began to be more freely interpreted. With Peter de Fon- 
taines ^nd Beaumanoir it became secular; this was a for- 
ward movement. The famous Etablissements de Saint 
Louis are not worthy of the fame accorded them. They 
are a compilation, made soon after the death of the 
■sainted king, by an anonymous jurisconsult of Orleans, 
whose work consisted merely in piecing together two ordi- 
nances of the king's, a collection of customary law of 
"Touraine and of Anjou, and one other of Orleans. This 
assumed code has therefore no value as an original docu- 
ment, yet this fact did not prevent its being held in 
much favour during and since the Middle Ages. 

23. The Police. The ftuarantaine-le-Rol. Royal Suits. 
— What is known as the Qiiararitaine-le-Roi was an at- 
tempt on the part of Philip Augustus to suppress private 
wars by granting to the weaker party a forty days' truce. 



434 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROYALTY. 

Saint Louis renewed and extended it to his vassals' do- 
mains, and within his own he completely abolished 
private wars (1257). He reserved to himself the right of 
punishing certain crimes such as abduction, rape, and in- 
cendiarism. He thus established " royal suits," which 
were increased in number constantly, so that royalty 
might interfere in seigniorial courts and draw to itself all 
important cases. 

24. Royal Revenues. — The nature of royal incomes did 
not vary from the eleventh to the thirteenth century^ 
Under Saint Louis, as under Hugh Capet, the revenues 
from the domain supplied the treasury, but as the domain 
increased in size the revenues grew in enormous propor- 
tions. " Whilst Louis YIL," wrote a chronicler of the 
time, "levied but 19,000 livres a month (228,000 livres 
yearly), Philip Augustus left his son a daily in- 
come of 1200 livres parisis," (438,000 livres yearly); 
this was almost double the amount. Outside of his pri- 
vate income, the king levied important sums from eccle- 
siastical lands; also by virtue of the right of regale, which 
allowed him to collect the revenues of a bishopric or 
abbey as long as the see was vacant; and amortissement^ 
which religious corporations paid on acguiring new prop- 
erty, which came thus into mortmain; without including" 
extraordinary contributions, such as the tax for the second 
crusade and the Saladin tithe. It was a movement in 
the direction of modern taxation, although still in its 
infancy. 

25. Auditing of Accounts. — Provosts, bailes, and vis- 
counts, bailiffs and seneschals levied the ro3^al revenues. 
The seneschals were, besides, authorised to pay all ex- 
penses of the administration; three times a year they were 
required to pay the surplus or profits into the royal 
treasury, with the necessary vouchers to prove the 



MONETARY SYSTEM OF SAINT LOUIS. 435 

validity of their transactions. Members of the king's 
court, " deputies for the auditing of accounts/' filled the 
office of inspectors. In Normandy the kings kept up the 
court of the former dukes or Echiquier (exchequer), 
which performed the same functions as the Chamber of 
Accounts. 

26. The Budget of Saint Louis. — A part of what would 
now be termed the budget of Saint Louis can be reck- 
oned up for the years 1238 and 1248. In the one case, 
the known receipts were 235,286 livres jDarisis and the ex- 
penses 80,909 livres; in the other the receipts amounted 
to 178,630 livres and the expenses were 63,760. The sur- 
plus was deposited in the Temple, that is, the fortress in 
the enclosure owned by the Templars outside the walls of 
Paris. It was a safe place. The Templars also under- 
took business transactions such as are carried on by 
bankers of the present time: they took money on deposit, 
lent on pledges, and made international payments. A 
part of the sum promised Henry III. in the treaty of 1259 
was deposited in the Temple, and paid out by them ac- 
cording to agreement. 

27. Monetary System of Saint Louis. — Some words 
about the monetary system of Saint Louis are necessary 
in order to understand the figures quoted above. Royal 
moneys comprised then, not only coins in silver and base 
naetal as during Carolingian and early Capetian periods, 
but gold pieces as well. Gold pieces contained only ten 
parts alloy for a thousand parts of pure metal. Two 
gold coins were minted: 1. the ecu, which bore as device 
the shield of France covered with fleurs de lys, and 2, the 
agnel, which bore as an emblem the paschal lamb. The 
coins equalled 15 sous in silver plus 6 copper farthings, 
and were worth 14 francs 25 centimes. There were two 
kinds of coins for silver and base metal, according 



436 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROYALTY. 

as they were minted by the system of Tours or Paris. 
The value of money parisis was a quarter more than 
money tournois. Silver coinage was but one part of alloy 
to twenty-four parts of pure metal, the so-called '' white 
money ^': from a mark — about eight ounces — were coined 
58 gros or sous, worth about 90 centimes. There were 
also minted half sous or oboles, worth 45 centimes^ and 
tiers de sou, thirds of a sou or mailles, worth 30 centimes. 
Base metal was an alloy of copper and silver which was 
easily oxidised. It was used to make " black money/'' 
From one mark of this metal were coined 220 pence 
tournois. Double pence tournois and parisis were 
also minted. But in the thirteenth century pre- 
cious metals, being much rarer than now, had more 
value, and in order to compare the prices of those 
days with the present the figures quoted above must be 
multiplied by five or even six. It is noticeable that in 
this short table of money the pound (livre) does not 
figure; it was only a term used in counting. It equalled 
20 sous in silver and consequently counted for about 20 
francs in money of Tours and 25 francs in money of Paris,, 
or, in short, at least 100 francs present money. The 
system was excellent, and although everyone admitted 
that the king might change as he wished the name and 
value of money. Saint Louis never altered his. 

28. Feudal Money. The Money-Changers. — The use of 
royal money was obligatory throughout the realm after 
1262, but each high feudal lord continued to have his 
own; a fact which necessitated intricate money transac- 
tions. In Paris the money-changers were located on the 
Grand Pont, or Changers' Bridge. From the time of 
Louis VII. they were forbidden to establish themselves 
elsewhere, and they had to pay the king twenty sous an- 
nually for the privilege of having a booth. 



THE ROYAL ARMY. 437 

29. The Royal Army. — The royal army in the sixteentli 
century was made up of three distinct elements: 1, the 
knights; 2, the sergeants; 3, the mercenaries. 

1. The direct vassals of the crown were required to per- 
form military service, at their own expense, during forty 
days of each year and furnish a certain quota of men at 
arms; for instance the count of Champagne, who had more 
than two thousand noble vassals, sent only twelve banner- 
ets, which would be about one hundred men. The king 
could not keep his knights beyond the legal term of ser- 
vice except by paying them; it was thus Saint Louis kept 
Joinville during the seventh crusade. The summons to 
arms was made by the bailiffs and seneschals, who assumed 
command of the troops in their provinces and led them to 
the field. The knights were always mounted. 3. The ser- 
geants (servientes) were the lower class impressed into 
military service, but their position was not clearly defined, 
and they fought on foot as well as on horseback. They 
were drawn from the king's immediate domains, or from 
churches in the king's domain, or from the communes. 
Troops from the abbey of Saint Denis took part in the 
sieges of Puiset under Louis VI. TJhe communal militia 
appeared later; they are first heard of at Bouvines (1214), 
where they fought but to run away. 3. The mercenaries 
were recruited from all sides, but especially from Gascony, 
Brabant, and Hainault. They were styled routiers (strag- 
glers), coiereaux (a name probably meaning peasants), 
and paillards (loose fellows), etc. Some among their 
chiefs became celebrated, as Mercadier in the service of 
Eichard the Lion-Hearted, and Cadoc, with Philip Au- 
gustus. They formed regular troops, permanent and 
capable of discipline, but despised by the knights. The 
pay was six sous a day for paid horsemen plus the price 
of their horse; one sou for the infantry crossbowmen. 



438 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPE TI AN BOY ALT Y. 

30. The Army Leaders. — The king was the head of the 
feudal army. Next in rank were the constable, two mar- 
shals, created by Philip Augustus, and a master of the 
erossbowmen, created by Saint Louis. The latter com- 
manded what would be known to-day as the artillery and 
engineer corps, namely, men employed in conducting a 
siege. These were the carpenters to build the machines 
and put up moving towers, which were rolled up under 
the walls of the beleaguered city, whence the attacking 
party rushed on to the walls by means of flying bridges; 
there were also sappers and miners who undermined the 
besieged ramparts. They propped up the walls by means 
of beams, and when they had undermined a sufficient dis- 
tance, would set fire to the supports, and the earth, fall- 
ing in, would draw down the walls with it. 

31. Public Works in Paris. — One cannot speak literally 
of public works or relief, for there was not then 
any organised service for that purpose in the royal 
administration. However, there are certain w^orks, 
undertaken by order of Philip Augustus and Saint Louis^ 
which cannot be passed over in silence. Pliilip Au- 
gustus had the main streets of Paris repaved, which, until 
then, were disgustingly dirty, furrowed with ruts, in 
which filth accumulated, and which exhaled pestilential 
odours in bad weather. About 1210 he had the city walls 
rebuilt. We know, from the king's accounts, that the part 
on the left bank cost 7020 livres in money of Tours. 
What remains of the wall and towers to-day is sufficient 
to indicate within what narrow limits the capital of the 
Capetian realm was enclosed. On the right bank, touch- 
ing the outer wall near the Seine, Philip built the Louvre, 
in which he shut up his treasures and his enemies. One 
of the prisoners of Bouvines, Ferrand of Flanders, lan- 
guished there in captivity for fifteen years. The royal 



IMPORTANCE OF ROTAL REFORMS. 439 

palace was in the city, on the site of the present Palais 
de Justice; the two towers along the river bank date from 
Saint Louis's time. Within the city two of the most 
beautiful examples of Gothic architecture were built: the 
cathedral of Notre Dame, begun under Philip Augustus 
and continued during the entire thirteenth century; and 
the Sainte Chapelle, built from 1245 to 1248 by Pierre 
de Montereau to receive the relics of the Passion, pre- 
sented by the Emperor Baldwin II. to Saint Louis. 

32. Public Charities. — The foundation of the hospital. 
Hotel Dieu, has been sometimes attributed to Saint Louis; 
it certainly existed before and may date back to the 
seventh century. But he did institute the Quinze-Yingts, 
an establishment intended to receive three hundred (fif- 
teen times twenty) indigent blind persons. Charitable in- 
stitutions, however, were oftener under the control of re- 
ligious communities. Among them the lepers' hospital 
{maladreries) must not be overlooked. The wretched 
beings, victims of this contagious and then incuyable 
disease, were shut up, for the general safety of the public, 
iind they, with their attendants, were compelled to live a 
monastic life. According to the greatest of English 
chroniclers of the thirteenth century, Matthew Paris, the 
number of these houses or prisons was very large. He 
affirmed that, at that time there were nineteen hundred 
of them in Europe. In Paris, the brotherhood of Saint 
Lazare, or Saint Ladre, was consecrated to the care of 
such sufferers. 

33. Importance of Royal Reforms. Revival of the 
State Idea. — Such political and administrative reforms 
gradually modified the condition of things instituted by 
ihe establishment of the feudal system; it substituted 
anarchy for order; it revived the conception of the state, 
and the principles of a strong, centralised government. 



440 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROYALTY. 

The status of persons and lands changed more slowly. 
Yet the emancipation of the middle classes was much ad- 
vanced in the thirteenth century; the number of serfs, 
diminished rapidly, and there were none in Normandy, 
dating from the twelfth century. And the time was not 
distant when citizens would appear at the king's court be-^ 
side ecclesiastics and laymen. 

34. Summary. French Royalty from Hugh Capet to 
Saint Louis. — When Hugh Capet received the crown from 
the nobles, lay and ecclesiastic, it might have seemed 
as if this creation of a new dynasty was only the con- 
summation of the feudal system. A few years later it 
was apparent that the Capetian monarchy, just because it 
had sent its roots deep into the very heart of feudal 
society, was destined to increase, at the expense of the 
latter. The Carolingian dynasty had been undermined 
and destroyed by the administrative and military insti- 
tutions which it had erected for its own defence, and it 
had suffered, in addition, a series of lamentable disasters 
in the Norman, Hungarian, and Saracenic invasions, and 
in the brief reigns of Louis the Stammerer, Louis III., 
and Carloman, the minorities of Charles the Simple and 
Louis IV., and the premature death of Louis V. The 
Capetian dynasty, on the contrary, found, in the feudal 
institutions themselves, as we have said, a starting point 
and a continual growth of power; it was favoured by the 
social movement, the progress of the Church, the crea- 
tion of communes, the study of law in the universities; in 
short, it was fostered by a series of fortuitous circum- 
stances. The crusades, the conquests of England and 
the kingdom of Sicily, in which the monarchy took 
merely a secondary part, diverted from the kingdom the 
exuberant energy of the feudal nobles; emigration, the 
death of many nobles, the excessive expense of these dis- 



SUMMARY. 441 

tant expeditions, offered royalty many opportunities, as it 
did the bourgeoisie, for growth at the expense of feudal- 
ism. The war of the Albigenses transferred Languedoc 
to the king without his incurring the odium of the ac- 
companying massacres and conquest; the civil struggles 
in England enabled Philip Augustus to appropriate the 
continental possessions of the Plantagenets. Capetian 
sovereigns were fortunate enough, moreover, to be able to 
transmit the crown from father to son, without interrup- 
tion, for nearly three and a half centuries, so that heredi- 
tary possession, at first uncertain, was established in fact 
and in law, in the thirteenth century. 

Not one of them reigned too long or too short a time. 
Eeigns, either too long or too short, weaken monarchies, 
because they produce instability, or immobility and de- 
crepitude. The Capetian dynasty numbered but eight 
kings in two centuries and a half, from Eobert to Saint 
Louis, and not one of them reached old age. The oldest 
ones, Robert and Louis YIL, died at sixty. 

In nearly three centuries there were but two long 
minorities, those of Philip I. and Louis IX.; and both 
times the regency was in able and firm hands. Blanche 
of Castile, particularly, governed the kingdom better 
than her husband would have done; and her administra- 
tion, almost cruelly energetic, paved the way for the just 
moderation of Louis IX. She broke down resistance. 
Her son made the yoke, which she had imposed, an agree- 
able one. 

The first four Capetians contented themselves with 
strengthening gradually their still precarious situation. 
With Louis VI. and Suger, royalty appears for the first 
time as a supreme magistrature which has long arms to 
enforce its will and maintain justice and peace. Al- 
though the thoughtlessness of Louis YIL shook for an 



442 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROYALTY. 

instant the position of Capetian royalty, it suddenly ex- 
hibited with Philip Augustus and Saint Louis the life 
and power that were within. These two kings, the 
greatest of the Capetian dynasty, each came at the right 
hour. Philip Augustus, cunning, energetic, and un- 
scrupulous, was the man needed to retrieve the disaster 
caused by the divorce of Louis VI.; to increase the royal 
domain, by force as well as by cunning bargains, alw^ays, 
in diplomacy, the most alert and vigilant; to allow the 
horrible wars against the Albigenses to proceed, and 
profit by them. He laid the foundations for the adminis- 
tmtion of crown domains, fortified and beautified Paris, 
and encouraged the first attempts of letters and arts. 
Louis succeeded him and through virtue and piety lent 
dignity to a monarchy that was already formidable be- 
cause of its strength. It seemed as if he legalised and 
consecrated the work of his predecessors and the power 
which they had assumed. This sovereign, whom pos- 
terity loves to imagine as seated under an oak tree in 
Yincennes, dispensing justice, or washing the feet of the 
poor on Good Friday, realised so well the Church's ideal 
of a king that his virtues, justice, vigilance, love for his 
people, and severity towards himself, seemed to justify 
beforehand all acts of royal authority. 

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Saint 
Louis's character and personality in the growth of royal 
power during the thirteenth century. To resist his will 
was less an act of rebellion than a deed of wickedness or 
almost impiety, for he seemed to more than one of his 
contemporaries holier than the bishops and juster than 
the Pope. He difi'ered from most princes renowned for 
their piety and goodness, in that he was neither weak in 
character nor narrow-minded and timid; this fact tended 
to increase Saint Louis's authority. JSTo king was more 



SUMMAItT. 443 

truly a king than he, and his justice is even more striking 
than his goodness. He was firm, even towards the 
Church. Although repressing the excesses of the nobles, 
he was not partial to the Third Estate; and he would 
punish the faults of his own retainers. This independ- 
ence of mind and moral poise make him a type that stands 
almost alone in history. He realised what has remained 
for centuries the political ideal of Frenchmen: a central 
power which guarantees safety and peace, governs wisely, 
dispenses justice to all, and guides everything. 

In Saint Louis's time, centralised power controlled more 
by moral than by material force, for feudalism was still 
an important factor; the clergy and nobles enjoyed wide 
autonomy, free initiative, and privileges that were scrupu- 
lously respected. In that case, all that royalty can do is 
to oppose violence, gradually extend the exercise of its 
justice, and be, in societ}^, supreme arbiter and magis- 
trate. There seemed to be a moment of equilibrium be- 
tween royalty — which was growing, and feudalism — which 
was retrograding. It was the zenith of what might be 
termed feudal monarchy. Dating from Philip the Fair, 
royal power dominated feudalism, and began to absorb all 
local and individual powers for its own benefit. 

This period of the zenith of feudal monarchy is also, as 
w^e shall see, one in which France of the Middle Ages 
shines the most brightly and exercises the widest influ- 
ence in Europe. While Saint Louis, arbiter between Pope 
and emperor, and between Henry III. and his barons,, 
seems invested with a kind of moral jurisdiction, the Uni- 
versity of Paris, having drawn to herself the most illus-* 
trious doctors and a world of students from all nations, 
sets the model for the organisation of all great schools; 
architecture, improperly termed Gothic, a product of the 
north of France, whose most beautiful examples were! 



444 INSTITUTIONS OF CAPETIAN ROTALTT. 

built on royal domains, is extended from one country to 
another over the continent, and later in England; French 
literature is read, copied, and imitated everywhere. In 
no other period did France exercise a like control over 
minds. Doubtless royalty cannot claim the entire merit 
of this; the Renaissance of the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
turies owed much to the growth of active centres of pros- 
perity and intellectual life created by the parcelling out 
of feudal territory. Yet royalty knew how to concentrate 
all these living forces, and give them an incomparable 
capacity for expansion. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

ENGLAND FKOM THE NINTH TO THE THIRTEENTH 

CENTURY.* 

1. End of the Heptarchy. Preeminence of Wessex. — 

As long as the period of the Heptarchy lasted, England 
remained isolated and outside of Europe. Its history 
during that time is a tangled web of domestic wars, 
each one of the kingdoms striving for overlordship. 
Northumberland was first victorious, in the seventh cen- 

* Sources. — "Monumenta historica Britannica medii aevi," vol- 
ume i. (The first volume of this work, which was never continued, 
comprises the chroniclers prior to the Norman conquest.) " Rerum 
Brltannicarum medii aevi scriptores (under the direction of " the 
Master of the Rolls " ; the collection comprises nearly three hundred 
volumes, appearing since 1858). For details see, Gardiner and Mul- 
linger: "Introduction to the History of England" (third edition, 
1894; in English), and Gross, " Sources and Literature of English 
History," 1900; Rymer: " Acta, Foedera, Conventiones " (avast collec- 
tion of acts since the year 1100). There are several editions of this, 
and a summary published by D. T. Hardy, entitled " Syllabus 
of Rymer's Fcedera," 3 vols., (1869-1885). "The Statutes of 
the Kingdom of England," 10 vols. (1810-1828). R. Schmid: 
" Gesetze der Angel-Sachsen," second edition (1858), and Lieber- 
mann, " Gesetze der Angel-Sachsen," 3 parts, 1898 and 1899. " La 
Tapisserie de Bayeux, Reproduction d'apres Nature," J. Comte 
(1878). Ch. Bemont: " Les Chartes Anglaises " (1892). 

Literature. — Stubbs, "Constitutional History of England"; 
Freeman, "History of the Norman Conquest," and "William 
Rufus " ; Round," Feudal England." " Geoffrey de Mandeville." and 
•' The Commune of Loudon"; Ramsay, " The Foundations of Eng- 
land," vol. ii.; Norgate, "England under the Angevin Kings"; 
Bemont, " Simon de Montfort." 

445 



446 ENGLAND, NINTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

iViTy; then, in the eighth, Mercia; finall}^ dating from the 
ninth century, Wessex; but it needed the scourge of a 
double invasion to bring about political unity and a 
firm administration. 

2. The Danes in England. — The first invasion was that 
of the Danes, as the N'orthmen were called in England, 
who subdued iN'orthumberland (870) and Mercia (874). 
Wessex alone withstood them under i^lfred the Great 
(871-901) and JEthelstan (925-940). The latter is the 
first who bore, and who had the right to bear, the title of 
king of England. His supremacy was aclaiowledged by 
the British princes and the independent Danish jarls. He 
allied himself with foreign powers by marrying one of his 
daughters to Charles the Simple, another to Hugh the 
Great, and the third to Otto, duke of Saxony and, later, 
emperor of Germany. Tlireatened, in his own domains, 
by a coalition of Scots, Britons, and Danes from jSTor- 
thumberland and Ireland, he destroyed it in the battle of 
Brunanburh, near the Tweed, one of the most famous in 
Anglo-Saxon history (937). 'A statesman and minister 
tuider four kings, successors of ^thelstan. Saint Dunstan, 
bishop of Worcester and London, then archbishop of 
Canterbury and primate of England (959-988), originated 
or directed the political and religious reforms which 
gave England her first national organisation. The Danes 
took advantage of the disorders which arose at Edgar's 
death (975) to begin their invasions. This time Wessex 
succumbed, and Swend of the Forked Beard remained 
master of the entire English territory (1013). His son 
Cnut, a great conqueror and legislator, reigned brilliantly 
over all England (1017-1035) as well as Scandinavia; he 
governed so truly in the spirit of the vSaxon laws that he 
did not seem to be a foreigner. But his children were 
unworthy of him. His kingdom, too extended, fell apart. 



ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS. 447 

and the national king, Edward, surnamed the Confessor, 
because of his piety, reconquered his realm with the help 
of the Normans (1042). 

3. Edward the Confessor and Harold. Foundation of 
English Unity. — Edward was a better monk than king. 
He left the power to his ealdormen, or governors of the 
large shires which represented the former kingdoms of 
the heptarchy: Siward, north of the Humber; Leofric, 
in Mercia; Godwin, in Wessex. The latter was the richest, 
most powerful, and most ambitious of all. He left to his 
son Harold vast powar (1054), and when Edward the 
Confessor finally died childless (January 6, 1066), Earl 
Harold's succession wag uncontested. Like ^dgar and 
Cnut, he reigned over the entire country, from the Tamar 
to the Tweed. National rnity was henceforth established. 

4. Anglo-Saxon Institutions. The Aristocracy. — The 
characteristics of iinglo-Saxon institutions are the 
strength of local powers and the weakness of central 
government. The disorders which had wasted the country 
for so many centuries brought inevitable results; they 
led to the establishment of a kind of feudal regime, less 
powerful than that on the continent, yet a disintegrating 
force. The class of small freeholders gradually disap- 
peared; they were forced into dependence on a thane or 
lord of the soil. The villages stood for so many seigniories 
which the Normans later would term manors. The 
nobility had its hereditary chiefs, who were almost 
as powerful as the king. They were the ealdormen and 
earls, whose rivalries had invited the Danish invasion and 
facilitated the Norman conquest. 

5. Administrative Divisions. — The kingdom was divided 
into counties or shires ruled by a bishop, earldorman, and 
sheriff. The latter was the king's agent, appointed by 
him and deputed to execute the laws, administer the royal 



448 ENGLAND, NINTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 

domain, and preside over the tribunal of the county. 
Twice a year he convoked the assembly of the county, 
composed of noble landholders, public functionaries, 
and, probably, for each town the reeve and four men; 
it was a kind of local parliament, where local business 
was transacted and law-suits pleaded and judged. Like- 
wise, in each of the hundreds, which were subdivisions of 
the county, there was a monthly meeting of the lords or 
their representatives, the priest of each parish, and the 
reeve and four men of each town. Most public matters 
were transacted in these assemblies of the hundreds, and 
in the shiremoots. 

6. The King and the Witanagemot. — The king had ex- 
tended prerogatives, but little real power. He was the 
protector of peace; the law, promulgated in his name, was 
binding on all his subjects, the Anglo-Saxons having 
always ignored the principle of personal law. He was 
already considered as the source of all justice. He was at 
the head of the national army. But his authority was 
limited by the powers of his council (witenagemot) ; the 
wise men, or witan, having a share in the drawing up of 
laws, the enactment of extraordinary taxations, all mili- 
tary and diplomatic affairs, and the nomination of the 
king. They were few in number, it is true; bishops, 
nobles of the realm called by the king, officers of the 
royal household, they wielded no truly independent power. 
On the other hand, the king's power in matters of police, 
finance, and the army was shadowy. 

7. Public Order and the Army. — The system of public 
order consisted in holding individuals responsible for the 
offenses or crimes of their neighbours. At the age of 
twelve a man must swear that " he would not be a rogue 
nor consort with rogues "; he then was a member of a 
body of ten, all being responsible for one another. 



WILLIAM THE BASTARD CONQXTERS ENGLAND. 449 

Except for the revenues from his own domain, the king 
had no taxes except the Danegeld, which was levied to 
pay tribute to the Danes, or pay them for their services. 
The array was a militia {f^jrd), aristocratic, and not a 
standing army. The king's personal military force only, 
armed like the Danes, the Imscarls, represented a stand- 
ing army. There was no real fleet. On land as well as 
on the seas, England was unprepared to offer a long re- 
sistance to an invader. 

8. William the Bastard Conquers England. Battle of 
Senlac, 1066. — This was apparent soon after the acces- 
sion of Harold, when William the Bastard, duke of Nor- 
mandy, claimed the throne. He claimed that Edward 
had named him as his heir; he cited a certain oath, 
which Harold had taken on some previous relics, prom- 
ising to respect his rights of inheritance; he en- 
listed the Pope's interest in his cause, who was the 
defender of a sacred oath; and he sent embassies to Ger- 
many and France to win as wide support for his claim as 
possible. At the same time he assembled at Lillebonne 
a large force of adventurers from France, Flanders, Brit- 
tany, Aquitaine, and Burgundy, from Apulia and Sicily, a 
motley horde of crusaders, assembled for the pillage of 
England. As he was ready to set sail, but detained by 
contrary winds, a Norwegian invasion led by Tostig, 
Harold's brother, landed at the mouth of the Humber. 
Harold marched north to meet the enemy, and defeated 
the force near York, at Stamford Bridge (September 28). 
But that same day the Norman fleet landed near Peven- 
sey, on the unprotected coast, an army said to have been 
of fifty thousand men.* Harold, although wounded, hur- 

* Mediaeval estimates of numbers are all greatly exage^erated. 
Probably William's army did not contain over five thousand men. 
See Ramsay, " The Foundations of England," vol. ii. p. 16.— Ed. 



450 ENGLAND, NINTH TO THIRTEENTU CENTURY. 

ried south again, eager to give battle. He did not even 
await reenforcements for which he had asked, and was 
defeated and killed near Hastings, at Senlac (October 14). 

9. Legal Spoliation of England. — The battle of Hast- 
ings is one of the decisive victories of history. It gave, 
almost at once, England to the duke of Normandy, who 
went to London to be crowned (December 25), amid a 
crowd that was curious rather than hostile. His consecra- 
tion by the Church rendered him legitimate sovereign in 
the eyes of the English. He was pitilessly logical in 
wielding this legitimate power. The English who had 
refused to help him before Hastings were declared 
traitors, and their property was confiscated; they might, 
however, buy back their lands by becoming the king's 
men. The property of those who had borne arms against 
him, especially the rich domains of the Godwin family, 
was sequestrated. This wide-reaching spoliation was 
carried out methodically with every show of exact justice. 
AVilliam never departed from this policy. He had to 
struggle with his revolted subjects, and it was not until 
1071 that he overcame the last resistance; he applied to 
all the same law, cruel yet inflexible. He followed the 
same course in distributing to his followers the lands 
taken from rebels, for he also rewarded the English who 
had at once rallied to his cause. Thus the Conqueror 
ignored conquerors and conquered; he was king of all, 
providing all yielded him equal obedience. 

10. Norman Feudalism in England Eestrained by Royal 
Supremacy. — He was a powerful organiser as well as a 
skilful and successful politician. Apparently the old 
order of things remained unchanged. He declared that 
he would rule according to the laws of Edward the Con- 
fessor, adding, it is true, "with the additions he deemed 
necessary for the good of the English people." He con- 



THE BOOMSDAy BOOK. 451 

tinned the royal agents of the county, the hun- 
dred, and the towns. The outer pomp which he 
affected was not different from that of the Saxon kings, 
but he wished to rule as an absolute prince. The vast 
riches which the spoliation of England had transferred 
to him gave him a power unknown to his predecessors. 
While favoui'ing, in England, the system of feudal tenure 
in force in jSTormandy, he took care that the Norman 
nobles should not become too powerful. The fiefs and 
manors, which he distributed lavishly, were detached ter- 
ritories. In France the count was head of a people, of 
a state; in England the title was an empty one, except on 
the exposed frontiers, where he kept up the authority of 
the vanished ealdormen; the real head of the county 
was the sheriff, named by the king, and removable at 
,will. 

11. The Doomsday Book and the New Forest. — The 
condition of Anglo-Norman property was registered in 
a voluminous land register called the Doomsday Book, 
which was the result of an inquiry lasting seven months. 
Soon there was not a yard of land, an ox, a cow, or a 
pig which was not counted; everyone had his account as 
in the great book of the Judgment Day. This census 
caused some disturbances. William swelled the general 
discontent by creating the New JForest, that is, he reserved 
for exclusive use in hunting a wide stretch of forest and 
plain in Hampshire. Most stringent laws were enacted 
against poachers and marauders. The discontent became 
so great that many Normans were assassinated. William 
placed under his special protection " those whom he had 
brought over with him"; he announced that an attack 
on a Frenchman was an attack on the king, and he pro- 
mulgated the rule called presentment of Englishry: the 
body of an assassinated man was assumed to be that of a 



452 ENGLAND, NINTH TO TEIRTEENTH CENTURT. _ 

Frenchman, unless it could be proved that the victim was 
English; if the proof were not forthcoming, the village 
or hundred in which the corpse was found was punished 
by a heavy fine. 

12. The Clergy Subservient to the King. Lanfranc. — 
William was careful to choose among the clergy prelates 
who were devoted to him so as to oppose them to the lay 
barons. He appointed to the see of Canterbury a learned 
prelate, Lanfranc, abbot of Bee in Normandy. He was 
born at Pavia, and his Italian origin shielded him in 
advance from the suspicion of favouring either English 
or Normans. He was William's prime minister. On the 
other hand, the clergy was developing into a distinct order. 
It had its own jurisdiction, and its synods apart from the 
general assemblies of the kingdom; but William forbade 
them to send any appeal to Eome without his authorisa- 
tion. Frequent visits from legates kept the English 
Church in touch with Eome, but no legate could land in 
England without his permission, and he kept the right 
to ratify any act of ecclesiastical legislation. Lanfranc 
undertook vigorously the moral reform of the clergy. 
Marriage of priests was forbidden; canons were forced to 
give up their wives, and gradually, as during Saint Dun- 
stan's time, were replaced by monks, from whom the 
former abbot of Bee expected more obedience. William 
approved these measures. Being a prince of sincere and 
rigid devotion, he had decided to preserve amicable rela- 
tions with the Pope; but when Gregory VII. asked him 
to pay homage for the crown, conquered with the Church's 
blessing, he refused. As protector of the national church, 
he was the more firmly established as king of the English 
people. 

13. William the Conqueror's Three Sons. — ^^\^illiam the 
Conqueror died in 1087 during an expedition against the 



DOMESTIC POLICY OF HENRY I. 453 

French king, Philip I., who, heing too young in 1066 to 
disturb the work of conquest, soon realised that it 
threatened the future of the Capetian dynasty. William 
had three sons: to the oldest, Robert, he left the 
duchy of Normandy; to the second, William Rufus, 
the crown of England; to the third, Henry Beauclerc, five 
thousand pounds of silver. The new king was intelligent 
and brave, but greedy and dissolute, and after Lan- 
franc's death (1089) he grew tyrannical. He persecuted 
the archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, a learned theolo- 
gian and guileless man, and like Lan franc, his master, 
an able administrator; he burdened the nobles and people 
with taxes; and executed the forest laws relentlessly. He 
died, pierced by an arrow, in the New Forest (April 2, 
1100). At that time his oldest brother was on a crusade 
and Henry seized the opportunity to take possession of 
the royal treasure at Winchester, the old Saxon capital, 
and to have himself crowned at London, the new Nor- 
man capital. On his return from the Holy Land, 
Robert would have contested the throne. He was de- 
feated in the battle of Tinchebrai in Normandy, forty 
years to a day after the battle of Hastings, and passed 
the remainder of his days in prison. His oldest son, 
William Clito, sought refuge in France; but the defeat 
of Louis the Fat at Bremule saved Normandy, and the 
double marriage of Matilda, daughter of Henry, first with 
the German emperor, Henry V., then with handsome 
Geoffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou, held the French 
king constantly in check along the eastern and western 
frontiers. 

14. Domestic Policy of Henry I. Mingling of the Two 
Peoples. — The domestic policy of Henry I. was equally 
wise. He gained English favour by promising to respect 
the laws of Edward the Confessor; he granted a charter. 



454 EFOLAND, NINTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTUMTi 

the first of the " charters of liberty " in England, in whicK | 
he agreed to maintain the rights of the Church, the ■ 
nobility, and the people. He married Matilda, niece of the 
last Anglo-Saxon prince, and thereby seemed to be the | 
legitimate heir of the former kings. He carried through 
an exact and severe administration, which brought mis- 
fortune on many, but which established peace, at least. 
Civil war, after his death, between the two contestants 
for the crown, his daughter Matilda, and his nephew 
Stephen of Blois (1135-1153), ruined, in this respect, his 
work, which Henry II. took up again. However, it com- 
pleted the fusion of the two peoples, conquered and con- 
querors, whose favour the two rivals courted, and whose 
services they rewarded by conferring on them like 
privileges. 

15. Henry II. His Portrait. He Eeorganises and 
Strengthens Eoyal Power. — The son of the Empress Ma- 
tilda and Count G-eoffrey of Anjou, Henry II. was thick- 
set and strong-limbed. He had imperative need of 
physical activity, was prompt to anger, almost savage in 
his violence, and loose in his morals. As a far-sighted 
and selfish statesman, he knew how to anticipate events 
and choose efficient officers; he had a hatred for disorder, 
which made him a law-making king; a disdain for empty 
glory, and a liking for positive results, which, in spite of 
his passion for war, led him more than once to negotiate 
instead of fighting. As a foreign king, head of a vast 
empire made up of the most diverse peoples, inspired by 
ancient rivalries, and threatened by jealous neighbours, 
he needed a strong government; he made it despotic. 
Scarcely had he reached the throne, at twenty-one (1154), 
when he struck down the feudal nobles who had gained 
power during the civil war; he checked the spoliation of 
the royal domain, and annulled many titles of earl which 



THOMAS BECKET. 455 

had been lavishly conferred throughout the preceding 
reign; he razed the fortresses built since the death of 
Henry I., and dismissed the foreign mercenaries, re- 
organised the finances, and placed the administration 
under the guidance of Thomas Becket, who was given the 
title of chancellor. He was a minister proud and arro- 
gant, trained in affairs, and served his lord with un- 
bounded devotion during eight years. 

Henry was so satisfied with him that he had him 
elected archbishop of Canterbury, in spite of the advice 
of his mother, the remonstrances of the nobles, and com- 
plaints of the Church (1162). 

16. Thomas Becket. His Opposition and Exile. His 
Heturn and Death, 1170. — He soon repented of this step. 
The new archbishop suddenly became the obstinate de- 
fender of church rights, as he had been the zealous 
servant of royal despotism. He protested against 
a contribution levied on the territory of the clerg}', 
rsv^hich has often, though erroneously, been identified 
,with the old Danegeld. He also opposed a reform 
in criminal legislation which involved the submission 
of priests to the Jurisdiction of secular tribunals 
(1163). He was answered by an appeal to the "cus- 
toms of the kingdom" defined in the Constitutions of 
Clarendon (1164); he was finally made party to a law- 
suit in which he refused to appear, and was declared 
guilty of treason. It was said that the king wished to 
disqualify him and have him put to death. Thereupon 
he fled to France, where, during a voluntary exile of six 
years, he roused himself to fanaticism by fasting, scourg- 
ings, and feverish study of theological writings. At last, 
Eoon after Henry II. had raised to the throne with him- 
self his eldest son, also named Henry (June, 1170), the 
king and prelate were reconciled, (July 22). On his 



456 ENGLAND, NINTH TO THIBTEENTH CENTUBT. 

return, Becket's first act was to excommunicate the prel- 
ates who had participated in the crowning of young 
Henry, who had been anointed by the archbishop of 
York in defiance of the rights claimed by the archbishop 
of Canterbury. On hearing this the king went into a rage. 
"What! " he cried, "among all these cowards whom I have 
fed, is there none who will rid me of this miserable 
priest? " He then assembled a council, which judged 
Becket's conduct a capital offence. Even then he learned 
that the prelate had just been assassinated at the foot of 
the steps which led into the choir of the cathedral at 
Canterbury (December 29). 

17. Penance of Henry II. — The anger of Henry II. at 
once gave place to deep despair. Hearing that the Pope 
was about to excommunicate him, he hurriedly set off on 
an expedition to Ireland, but returned no less hurriedly 
to stop the papal legates whom he met in Avranches. He 
implored pardon, revoked the Constitutions of Clarendon, 
and had his son recrowned. 

18. Disaffeetions with Royal Despotism. — This storm 
shook the Angevin Empire to its very foundations. The 
clergy was satisfied with the public penance which Henry 
II. performed at the martyr's tomb; but the powerful 
nobles chafed under the severe order restored by Henry 
II. The reorganisation of justice and finances, from a 
blessing had grown to be a burden. The lower function- 
aries thought that with such a master everything would 
be countenanced; each year they grew more exacting in 
levying taxes; lawsuits were more frequent and penalties 
more burdensome. But Henry's most dangerous enemies 
were among the members of his own family. Although 
by his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine he had eight 
children within fifteen years, their union was never peace- 
ful; the wife was insubordinate and the husband faithless, 



ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS. 457 

the sons were bad, and they were badly brought up. 
Henry II. loved them, but selfishly, and as they grew, he 
made them the tools of his political schemes. He divided 
his dominions during his life, so as to relieve himself of 
the burden: Henry had the paternal share, England, Nor- 
mandy, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine; Richard, the ma- 
ternal inheritance, Aquitaine and Poitou; but he merely 
gave them the semblance of power, arousing their greed 
without appeasing their ambition. And also, when he 
wished to marry his youngest son, John, to the heiress 
of the count of Maurienne, he claimed a part of the 
inheritance of the two elder brothers to make up the 
dowry of the younger; they refused it, and Henry fled to 
the court of his father-in-law, Louis VII., who recog- 
nised him as sole and legitimate king of England. Elea- 
nor, plotting with her first husband against her second, 
incited Richard to revolt; she was hurrying to him when 
she was arrested and thrown into prison. 

19. Coalition against Henry II. It is Stamped out, 
1173-1174. — This was the signal for a general uprising. 
Several English earls, the bishop of Durham, the king of 
Scotland, the counts of Flanders, Boulogne, and Cham- 
pagne, and at last the king of France united in a formi- 
dable coalition in which young King Henry and his 
brother Richard took leading parts. Henry 11. outwitted 
them by the promptness and vigour of his movements. 
The Scotch were beaten near Alnwick. On the continent 
the count of Boulogne was killed in battle, the Flemish 
invasion stopped, and Louis VII. conquered. " God, 
even, was for him! " sadly said the king of France. 

20. Administrative Reforms Instituted by the King. — 
Once victorious, Henry 11. eagerly set about reconstruct- 
ing his empire. He improved the administrative system 
by instituting a circuit court presided over by circuit 



458 ENGLAND, NINTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 

judges, who wielded vast powers; by organising the Court 
of the King's Bench, to which were brought all cases com- 
ing under royal justice; by establishing a militia and com- 
pulsory military service for all except j)riests and Jews. 
He curried favour with the Welsh, whom he had been un- 
able to subdue, by flattering their vanitv; he pretended to 
believe in the recent legends which celebrated the ex- 
ploits of Arthur, king of the Britons. He strengthened 
his foreign relations by marrying his daughter Jane with 
William the Good, king of Sicily, and Eleanor with Al- 
fonso YIII., king of Castile. Finally, the accession of a 
Jiing aged fifteen to the throne of France allowed him 
eome respite in his continental domains. 

21. Trials of the Last Years of Henry II. His Death, 
1189. — His sons caused him the last and most cruel mor- 
fcifications. Young Henry revolted again, but he was 
..seized with sickness and died at Martel, in Limousin, 
^nourned solely by his father and a few devoted partisans, 
like the warrior poet Bertram de Born (1183). Three- 
years later his second son, Geoffrey, count of Brittany, 
was drawn into a revolt by Philip Augustus; he died sud- 
denly, in Paris, shortly before the birth of his child, who 
was to be the unfortunate Arthur of Brittany. Soon 
after, the news of the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin 
reached the West (1189). Henry 11. and Eichard the 
Lion-Hearted vowed to join the crusade. But Eichard 
and John, even, were drawn by Philip Augustus into his 
party, both wearied of their father's long reign. Worn 
by fatigue and weakened by fever, the old king accepted 
the conditions of peace dictated by Philip Augustus; he 
only asked for a list of the traitors who were serving in 
the French army. When he heard the name of his son 
John, the most beloved, he uttered these words: "You 
have said enough! " His face changed colour; he lost his 



THE NATION REBELS AGAINST THE KING. 459 

memory; for three days he raved, and at last died with- 
out recovering consciousness (July 6, 1189). 

22. Luckless Reign of Richard the Lion-Hearted. — 
Richard I., the Lion-Hearted, who succeeded him, was 
twenty-two years old. He had his father's turbulent 
nature, but not his political ability. He inherited from 
his mother a great love of display, poetry, and music. 
He was a chivalrous king in the full sense of the word, 
meaning bravery and courtesy, but also extravagance and 
lack of judgment and foresight. Like his father, he was 
more of an Angevin than an Englishman. It has been 
estimated that, out of the thirty-five years of his reign, 
Henry 11. passed thirteen in his kingdom, and that only 
three times did he stay there during three successive 
years. Although born in England, Eichard appeared 
there but twice; for some months after his coronation, and 
during several weeks after his captivity. His time 
was first wasted at the crusades, then in a war against 
France, and nowhere did he found anything that was 
lasting. 

Under Henry II. and Richard the Lion-Hearted, Eng- 
land spent herself abroad. After the conquests of Philip 
Augustus she was forced to retire within herself. In the 
thirteenth century she had no extensive war except to de- 
fend her privileges against royal despotism. 

23. The Nation Rebels against the King, 1215. — In 
fact no limits had been yet set to royal powers. Henry I., 
Stephen, and Henry II. had promised to respect the laws 
of Edward the Confessor, yet the laws were unwritten. 
Therefore the able English jurist of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, Henry of Bratton or Bracton, did not hesitate to de- 
clare that " no one in the kingdom could be more power- 
ful than the king," that he was above ordinary justice, 
that God alone could punish him if he did ill, and that 



460 ENGLAND, NINTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTURY 

he might only be " besought to amend what he had done." 
Since the reforms of Henry II. all the classes of the 
nation were affected by this legal despotism; they joined 
forces against the royal power when the latter was com- 
promised by its own mistakes and weakened by losses on 
the continent. The clergy began the struggle against 
John Lackland, persecutor of the archbishop of Canter- 
bury, Stephen Langton; the nobility took it up after Bou- 
vines. They finally wrested from the king the Magna 
Carta, the Great Charter of English Liberties (June 15, 
1215). It did not institute a new condition of affairs, but 
stated in more precise form what the previous charters 
had expressed merely in general terms. It fixed the laws 
of feudal succession, wardship, and marriage; it regulated 
the procedure in disputes relating to the recent acquisi- 
tion of landed property, inheritance, and donations to 
ecclesiastical benefices; it made justice fixed and period- 
ical; it mitigated the arbitrary infliction of penalties; it 
protected individual liberty by decreeing that no one 
should be subject to arrest and imprisonment, or injured 
in person or property, except by the judgment of his 
peers and according to law. It ensured to merchants 
freedom to go from place to place, decreed uniformity of 
weights and measures throughout the kingdom, and con- 
firmed the commercial privileges of London and other 
cities or ports. It forbade lords to levy any aid except 
in the three regular cases, and the king to levy a seutage 
or aid, except in the same cases, without the consent of 
the common council of the kingdom, that is to say, the 
assembly of prelates and barons which, from 1239, was 
called the Parliament. The act affected all classes of the 
nation, as is seen — the middle classes, as well as the no- 
bility and clergy. It was conclusive proof that the 
English, whether descended from Norman conquerors or 



THE EARL OF LEICESTER. 461 

Anglo-Saxon conquered, were a united people, bent on 
having their liberties respected. 

Two powers confronted each other — the king and the 
nation. Their struggle filled an entire century; its 
cause, object, and result was the Magna Carta. 

24. The Parliament Struggles with Arbitrary Gov- 
ernment. — John Lackland had no sooner sworn to observe 
than he violated the charter. The barons^ as has been 
seen, then attempted to dethrone him by calling in Louis 
of France. John's death and the youth of his son Henry 
III. saved the dynasty. During the young king's mi- 
nority power was exercised by three ministers elected by 
the barons. When he was of age he suffered no control. 
Favourites, especially foreigners, surrounded him, and 
his ministers were chosen from the ranks of obscure office- 
holders, without the advice of the Parliament. Arbitrary 
government was in the ascendant, a gay, lavish, adventu- 
rous, whimsical rule. Parliament spared neither com- 
plaints nor threats. It took advantage of all the predica- 
ments in which royalty was in and mainly through 
its own fault, to wrest concessions from it; it withheld 
money at these critical times until it had obtained the 
solemn confirmation of the Magna Carta. The Sicilian 
incident, into which Henry flung himself so thought- 
lessly and on which so much money was uselessly spent, 
brought on a revolution. 

25. The Earl of Leicester and the Provisions of Oxford, 
1258. — A foremost figure in this revolution was a French- 
man, Simon de Montfort, son of the conqueror of the 
Albigenses. Heir to the title of earl of Leicester and 
the office of seneschal of England, he was at first an inti- 
mate friend of the king, who gave him one of his sisters 
in marriage (1239). He fought bravely for him during 
the campaign of Poitou in 1242, and ruled in his name 



462 ENGLAND, NINTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 

Gascony, during five j^ears of incessant struggles against 
the revolted population. Then the two brothers-in-lavr 
quarrelled, and Simon became imperceptibly leader of the 
aristocratic party. In his correspondence and conversa- 
tion with the most revered prelates of his time, he ac- 
quired his hatred of arbitrary government and conviction 
that the Church and state must be reformed, and his 
resolution to make the projected reform successful, even 
at the peril of his life. He was an ambitious bigot and 
fanatic, devoted to a noble cause. The Parliament, hav- 
ing assembled at Oxford (April, 1258), the king, who was 
brought to bay, was forced to accept a new constitution 
called the Provisions of Oxford, which established a coun- 
cil of fifteen elected by Parliament; ministers chosen 
annually; sheriffs, also elected annually from the lesser 
nobility of the counties and supervised by a committee of 
four elected knights; and finally, the periodical convoca- 
tion of Parliament, which should meet at least three times 
yearly. 

26. The English Revolution, 1264. The Extraordinary 
Parliament of 1265. — The triumph of the aristocracy was 
short-lived. Peace with France and (1259) the abandon- 
ment of Sicily retrieved the royal finances. Henry III. 
attacked his enemies commanded by Simon de Montfort. 
After two fruitless campaigns the belligerents agreed to 
arbitrate, choosing the king of France as judge, who gave 
his decision January 24, 1264. In the assembly at Amiens 
Louis IX. annulled the Provisions of Oxford, already con- 
demned by two popes, restored to English royalty all 
its prerogatives, but declared that the privileges, liberties, 
and statutes prior to the Provisions, and especially the 
Magna Carta, should be retained. This judgment 
aroused the discontent of the barons. Leicester, who had 
not been present at the conferences in Amiens, took up 



DEATH OF THE EARL OF LEICESTER, 1265. 463 

arms, and by a fortunate move, captured, near Lewes, the 
king of England, his oldest son Edward, his brother 
Richard, king of Germany, and his nephew Henry (May 
14, 1264). Then he seized the power and instituted a 
council of nine members, all devoted to his cause. In 
order to have the new constitution approved, he con- 
voked a great parliament in which, with prelates and 
barons, sat chosen representatives of the counties, and 
burgesses of the principal towns of the kingdom (January, 
1265). For the first time commoners had seats in 
Parliament, therefore Simon de Montfort has sometimes 
been termed the founder of the House of Commons. This 
is at least exaggerated, for it is certain that he never 
intended to give the deputies of the lower classes a 
permanent seat and office in Parliament; but a precedent 
had been established, and it was on the plan of the 
extraordinary Parliament of 1265 that later the regular 
Parliaments were formed. 

27. Death of the Earl of Leicester, 1265. The Results 
of this Revolution. — The victory of the earl of Leicester 
was of short duration. He abused it, and some of 
his most influential allies deserted him. At Evesham, 
with a handful of men, he was surrounded by two 
armies and perished after a heroic resistance (August 
4, 1265). His family was scattered, and his friends 
treated as rebels and their goods confiscated; but 
many of the people of the lower classes looked upon 
him as a saint, and miracles were performed, they say, 
on the spot where he fell. The king, freed, reassumed 
his entire power; the reforms promulgated by the barons 
during seven years were revoked; the Magna Carta at 
least endured. Therefore, on the death of Henry TIL 
(1272) the situation was the same as at his accession, but 
the aristocracv was conscious of its strength, and in time 



464 ENGLAND. NINTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

was to restrain the royal power. It found its centre of 
action in Parliament. 

28. Composition of the English Parliament. — This 
assembly, made up of prelates (archbishops, bishops, and 
abbots), and nobles (earls and barons), was convoked 
nearly every year during the reign of Henry III. and 
often several times in the same year. It could not meet, 
unless specially convoked by the king and according to 
forms laid down by the Magna Carta. Attendance was 
compulsory, and members could not withdraw without the 
king's consent, for it was a strict feudal obligation. The 
competence of Parliament was undefined, but it had no 
authority over ministers and royal officers; its functions 
consisted in gi^dng advice and voting imposts. 

29. The King and His Ministers. — The king governed 
with his ministers: the Lord Treasurer, the Lord Chan- 
cellor, and the Justiciar. During the twelfth century 
the Justiciar was in a way viceroy, governing the state 
in the king^s absence. Henry III. took this important 
office from him, and the others were shorn, in as far as 
was possible, of their authority. 

30. The King's Court. — He was still further assisted by 
his court, or Curia, which resembled in many ways that 
of the Capetians. Like the latter, it was divided into 
three sections: the Exchequer, for the financial adminis- 
tration; the Court of Common Pleas, established at West- 
minster since King John's time, and cognizant, in 
general, of all suits relating to landed property; and 
finally the King's Bench, which took cognizance of all 
other cases, especially criminal suits. Under Henry III. 
the officers of the king's court were used indiscriminately 
in one or the other of these three sections. 

31. The Counties and Local Administration. Self- 
•G-ovemment. — The kingdom was divided into thirty-five 



THE CITIES. 465 

shires or counties administered by sheriffs, who collected 
the ro3^al revenues and accounted for them to the Ex- 
chequer. Each county had besides its own assembly, com- 
prising, in addition to the nobles and prelates of the 
shire, chosen representatives of the lesser nobility, the 
middle class, and even the peasants. These county 
courts assumed the principal administrative functions, 
dispensed justice, and insured the execution of police 
regulations. It was there that the circuit or itinerant 
judges came to oversee the sheriff's conduct, empty the 
prisons by trials, and make royal justice felt in connec- 
tion with local justice. The hundreds had their courts 
as well, so that the p]nglishman, accustomed to manage 
his own personal affairs, was prepared to direct those of 
the state in the general Parliament of the realm. This 
was known as self-government. 

32. The Cities. Why there was no Commiinal Revolu- 
tion in England. — With a few exceptions, like London, 
Bristol, and the Cinque Ports of the Channel, the towns 
were still of small importance, for England was essen- 
tially an agricultural country. It raised large quantities 
of wool, but disposed of it on the continent, and foreigners 
were masters of the London market. The villages and 
many of the towns were within the lords' domains. The 
most privileged nobles had extended rights in judicial 
matters, especially the exclusive right to enforce adminis- 
trative acts without the interference of royal agents in 
their " liberty." Their rights, regulated by custom, were, 
however, rarely arbitrary; nobles, even the most* impor- 
tant ones, had but scant political power; they could only 
act as a body, which accounts for the fact that the feudal 
uprisings of the thirteenth century always began with 
parliamentary insurrections. Cities were not oppressed 
by their lords, who lacked sovereign power; they knew 



466 ENGLAND, NINTH TO THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

but one enem}^^ the king; hence there took place in; 
England nothing that resembled the communal move- 
ment. 

33. Why the Eng-lish Third Estate Joined with the 
Nobles against the Kings. — This explains the tendency of 
the commons to join forces with the nobles against the 
king, and not, as in France, with royalty against the 
nobles. It follows, from this, that England was the first 
country in Europe which organised political liberty for 
the three orders of the nation represented in Parliament. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

CONTINENTAL EUROPE.* 

/. Northern Europe: the Scandinavian States. 

1. Formation of the Scandinavian Kingdoms. — The 

Norse invasions acquainted the rest of Europe, not very 
favourably, with the peoples of the north: Danes, Nor- 
wegians, and Swedes. They belonged to the Indo- 
European race and spoke a language akin to German; 
their customs, institutions, and primitive beliefs much re- 
sembled much those of Germany. In the ninth century 
they still lived a tribal life and were pagans. The head of 
the tribes were princes or hereditary kings, and military 
chiefs or jarls; the council of freemen was the supreme 
tribunal and the diet. But at this time there were also 
certain chiefs who tried to found vast kingdoms. Gorm 
the Old (936) was the actual founder of the Danish 
monarchy, for he subdued the islands, Jutland, even 
Swedish Blekinge, and made himself master of all the 

♦Literature. — Lavisse and Rambaud: " Histoire Generale," 
volume ii. Freeman: "Historical Geography of Europe"; Allen: 
♦' History of Denmark "; Geoffrey: " Histoire des Pays Scandinaves "; 
L. Leger : " :^tudes Slaves"; Rambaud: "History of Russia" 
(second edition); "La Chronique dite de Nestor," translated by 
L. Leger ; E. Sayous: " Histoire des Hongrois " ; Al. D. Xenopol: 
" Histoire des Roumains " ; L. de Mas Latrie: "Histoire de I'lle de 
Chypre sous la Regne des Princes de la Maison de Lusignan," 3 
vols. (1857); Burke, "History of Spain," 2 vols.; Bryce: "The 
Holy Roman Empire"; P. Fournier: " Le Royaume d' Aries " ; 
Gregorovius, as above. 

467 



468 CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 

passes of the Baltic. Eric the Victorious reigned in^ 
Sweden^ and Harold of the Blue Tooth in Norway^ with 
absolute power. Cnut the Great was for a time 
(1014-1035) sole master of three kingdoms. Chris- 
tianity was then definitely established in the Scandi- 
navian countries, although the worship of Odin persisted 
into the fourteenth century. At the same time, the 
social condition was modified. A nobility grew up around 
the throne to the detriment of the freemen; however, its 
growth into a hereditary class was slow, and simple free- 
men kept an important place in the state. Cities were 
few, and commerce was in the hands of the Germans; 
Wisby, on the rocky island of Gottiand, was the great 
trading centre of the Baltic, as Bergen, on the Norwegian 
coast of the North Sea, owed its sudden prosperity to its 
constant relations with the Netherlands and England. 

2. The Scandinavian Kingdoms Acquire their own Re- 
ligious Jurisdiction. — In the thirteenth century the three 
Scandinavian kingdoms were definitely established as 
regarded political and religious matters. The arch- 
bishoprics established since Cnu.t were first suffragans of 
Bremen; this tie was loosened by the creation of the 
archbishoprics of Lund in Scania for Denmark (1104), 
Drontheim for Norway (1152), and Upsala for Sweden 
(1164). 

3. Peaceful Growth of Scandinavian Iceland. — Den- 
mark, on the other hand, having been a tributary of 
Germany in the eleventh century, cast off this suzerainty 
under Waldemar I. (1157-1188) and his sons. In the first 
half of the thirteenth century, he successful!}'' extended 
his sway over the entire southern coast of the Baltic, 
from Mecklenburg to Esthonia. The Norwegians spread 
through the islands of the northern ocean. They 
founded a flourishing state in Iceland, a Scandinavian 



POLITICAL ORGANISATION OF HUNGARY. 469 

republic "free of kings and despotism." There were 
preserved better than among their continental brothers 
the ancient traditions of the race, recorded in the Eddas. 
Later, when Christianity penetrated into the island, it 
struggled ably with the old pagan poetry by arousing a 
taste for chivalric poetry. The legends of Charlemagne, 
translated into Icelandic, were a potent means of propa- 
ganda amid a people who had the long winters to while 
away, and who, in their proud independence, kept alive 
their hero-worship. The Scandinavians went still farther 
and settled on the southern coast of Greenland, and even 
beyond, among the natives of Vineland. There they 
reached the soil of North America, long before Colum- 
Dus, although their adventurous expeditions bore no re- 
lation to the discovery of America. 

//. Edstern Europe: Hungarians and Slavs. 

4. Political Organisation of the Kingdom of Hungary. 

— The history of the kingdom of Hungary begins with 
Stephen I. the Saint (997-1038) who was the first 
Christian chief of the Arpad dynasty, and he imposed 
Christianity on all his subjects. He enriched the grow- 
ing church so that it was soon the m^ost powerful body of 
the state. In order to control the tribal chiefs, he divided 
the territory into districts ruled by a count who levied 
and commanded troops, guided the administration of 
domestic affairs, and collected crown revenues. The 
lesser nobility was subject to the counts, but the higher 
depended on the king alone. Finally the king united 
the bishops, magnates, and high officials in one supreme 
assembly, and, with their co-operation, made laws and 
ordinances to combat the ancient customs of the Hun- 
garian hordes. This Christian and monarchical organisa- 
tion, imitated from Germany, did not alter the customs of 



470 CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 

the coimtry, which for a long time retained their patri- 
archal character, but it gave the kingdom a cohesiveness 
which facilitated its development and growth by the ac- 
quisition of the kingdom, " triple and one," of Slavonia, 
Croatia, and Dalmatia; by the submission of the great 
Eoumanian people, scattered over the two slopes of the 
southern Carpathians; and by the subjection of Bosnia 
and Servia, which acknowledged the Magyar suzerainty. 
At the end of the thirteenth century, the Hungarian 
monarchy extended from the eastern Carpathians to the 
Morawa, and from the Adriatic to the Pruth and Dniester. 

5. Aristocratic Constitution of Hungary. — Progress was 
more than once endangered by internal discord, and 
especially by rival claims to the throne, caused by the 
uncertainty of the electoral law. Civil war having broken 
out between King Andrew II. (1205-1235) and his son 
Bela, the nobles took advantage of it to exact of the king 
the Golden Bull of 1322, by which they acquired entire 
possession of their lands with a hereditary title, exemp- 
tion from all obligations other than military service, and 
protection from condemnation to death, and confiscation, 
unless by virtue of a regular trial. A diet was to meet 
each year at Weissenburg in which any noble might 
appear and state his grievances. Additions to this Golden 
Bull, which in certain points is like the English Magna 
Carta, gave similar guarantees to the lower nobility and 
clergy. Should the king violate the constitution, the 
archbishop of Gran might cite the law to him, and should 
he refuse to submit, excommunicate him (1231). For 
several centuries, Hungary was the European country in 
which the aristocracy held power most firmly. 

6. The Slavs. — The Slavs, much more numerous than 
the Hungarians, were weakened by separating from one 
another. The Slovenes (Carinthia and Carniola), and the 



THE SLAVS OF POLAND. 471 

Croats settled in the valleys of the Miihr, Save, and Drave; 
and the Serbs south of the Danube. In the northern 
part of Austria were the Moravians, converted to Chris- 
tianity by Cyrill and Methodius, then the Czechs of 
Bohemia, their brothers. Under various names they 
peopled the entire country which is to-day German, 
situated east of the Elbe and Saale, as well as the valley 
of the Vistula and the upper basins of the Dniester, 
Dnieper, and Volga. From the midst of this confusion 
three peoples stand forth as interesting to general history: 
the Czechs, Poles, and Russians. 

7. The Slavs of Bohemia or Czechs. — In the beginning 
the Czechs were in the dependence of Germany, even 
after Philip of Swabia had definitely granted the title 
of king to their prince Ottocar I. and his heirs (1198). 
Bohemian kings figure in the German diets with the 
electoral hat and the dignity of arch-cup-bearer of the 
Empire. For this reason German influence was dominant 
in the country. Germans came in crowds to the court, 
the monasteries, and the clergy; they settled an entire 
quarter in Prague; they cleared the forests, and founded 
villages and cities. They initiated the Czechs into the 
literature and arts of the West. On the extinction of the 
Perzemslides (1306), Bohemia had, henceforth, only 
foreign kings. Although this foreign influence was 
dangerous to the originality of the country, it was not 
harmful; on the contrary, it opened the way for the bril- 
liant period of the fourteenth century. 

8. The Slavs of Poland. — Poland ranks among the Eu- 
ropean nations after the conversion to Christianity of 
Mieczyslav, prince of the family of the Piasts (962-992); 
but its early history is a succession of civil or foreign wars, 
broken by some brief intervals of splendour. Anarchy 
favoured the development of the nobility. Originally 



472 CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 

there were but two classes among the Slavs, the free and 
the "un-free; land was held jointly by families. They had 
the patriarchal customs of wandering tribes; these were 
lost, when, with the appropriation of land, riches began to 
accumulate. There then arose an inferior class, subject 
to the nobility, but all those who enjoyed full liberty, 
even the humblest, ranked as noble. The nobility was 
the kernel of the nation; it alone bore arms, it chose for 
itself princes to whom military service was due. In this 
way Poland escaped royal despotism, only to be lost in 
anarchy. 

9. The Slavs of Russia Conquered by the Scandinavians. 
— The Slavs of Russia owe their first notions of an 
organised state to foreigners; not to Germans, as was the 
case in Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, but first to the 
Scandinavians, then to the Greeks. The Scandinavians, 
those Varangians or Rous, settled about 862 on the shores 
of Lake Ladoga and the White Lake, soon occupying Nov- 
gorod, Smolensk, and Kieif; and they were soon bold 
enough to undertake expeditions to Constantinople which 
have made the names of Oleg, Igor, and Sviatoslav illus- 
trious. They then controlled the wide basin of the 
upper Dnieper. 

There was soon added to this military conquest from 
the north the ecclesiastical conquest from the South. 
Olga, the wife of Igor, had already received baptism at 
Byzantium; so her name is venerated in the Russian 
calendar. Her grandson Vladimir (972-1015), husband 
of a Greek princess, was converted by Greek missionaries, 
and he, in turn, forcibly imposed his religion on his 
subjects. The chief of pagan idols, Peroun (the thunder), 
was scourged at Kieff and thrown into the river. 

10. Russians Civilised by German and Especially by 
Byzantine Influence. — Vladimir has been compared to 



DECADENCE OF THE FIRST RUSSIAN STATE. 475 

Clovis. One of his sons, Yaroslaff the Great (1015-1044), 
was the Charlemagne of Russia. He waged successful 
warfare against his neighbours, and through foreign rela- 
tionships made Russia truly a European state. He mar- 
ried his three daughters to Harold, king of Norway; 
Henry I., king of France; and the youngest to Andrew 
I., king of Hungary. He collected the laws of his people 
in a code named the " Russian Truth." He wished Kieff, 
his capital, to rival Constantinople. Greek artists created 
on the banks of the Dnieper another Saint Sophia, which 
still exists, and which still preserves the mosaics of 
Yaroslaff; several hundred churches soon peopled this 
metropolis, to which came merchants from Germany, 
Hungary, Scandinavia, and Greece. Byzantine influence 
triumphed here. Greek priests brought with them the 
conception of an absolute and centralised government, 
which the czars of Kieff could not, it is true, put into 
practice, but which survived to reappear later with 
formidable strength in Moscovite Russia. 

11. Decadence of the First Russian State. — On the other 
hand, Russia did not receive from Western Christianity, 
at critical moments, the help lavished, for instance, on 
Spain against the Moors, Germany against the Slavs, and 
Hungary against the Turks. This was soon apparent. 
The empire of Yaroslaff disintegrated more rapidly than 
Charlemagne's; it sank amid frightful domestic wars. 
Kieff, taken by assault and sacked in 1169, lost its rank 
as capital. Finally a quadruple foreign invasion com- 
pleted the work of destruction begun by the princes and 
Russian boyars themselves. From the northwest came 
the Germans, merchants, missionaries, or soldiers. Then 
came the " brothers of the militia of Christ " or order of 
" Brothers of the Sword," founded in 1201, who were all 
that both names imply. They settled in Livonia, 



4U CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 

Esthoma, and Conrland. They allied themselves in 1237 
with knights of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, and closed 
to Russians access to the Baltic, as their allies did to the 
Poles. On the west, the Lithuanians, from the middle of 
the thirteenth century, constantly troubled Eussia on its 
European frontier. 

12. The Mongolian Invasion. Russia is Separated from 
Europe. — But the most serious event was the inroad of 
the Mongols, whom Jenghiz-Khan had gathered into a 
national body. After several victories when Russians 
shed rivers of blood, the Golden Horde conquered (1224- 
1240) the major part of Slavic Russia, which remained 
for three centuries under their yoke. The conquered 
were compelled to pay a heavy tribute and furnish the 
Horde a military contingent; the princes, to reign, were 
obliged to receive its investiture, and its authorisation 
to declare war. Thus Russia was no more than a de- 
pendency of Asia, and had no relations with Europe 
except through Novgorod, a prosperous and powerful re- 
public of merchants which the invasion had left un- 
touched. 

III. Southern JEurope: the Greek Empire and Spain. 

13. Incomplete Eest oration of the Greek Empire. — 

After the emperor of Nicsea, Michael VIII., Paleologus, 
entered Constantinople, he was far from having estab- 
lished the Byzantine control as it was before the 
fourth crusade. In fact, at first he only reigned 
over Thrace, south of the Hemus, in that part of 
Macedonia which had formed the transient kingdom of 
Thessalonica, and over several cities of the Peloponnesus. 
In the north the Serbs were independent, under princes 
of the house of ISTemanja, and the Bulgarians had formed 
again an empire whose growth had been marked by Latin 



IMPORTANCE OF BYZANTINE CIVILISATION. 475 

disasters. Of the Latin states, born of the crusade of 
1204, there remained but two important ones after 1'<JG1: 
the duchy of Athens, which comprised xlttica and Boeotia, 
and the principality of Achaia, which occupied the entire 
Peloponnesus. Venice, on her side, profiting by every- 
one's misfortunes, added to the territory acquired in 1204, 
which moreover, she never entirely possessed, Crete, 
Modon, Coron, part of the island of Euboea, without 
counting the island of Naxos, which, though not belong- 
ing directly to the republic of Saint Mark, had been, 
however, occupied by Venetians since 120T. Added to 
this loss, Sicilian princes took from the Greek Empire 
other scattered bits. Manfred owned Durazzo and Corfu, 
with the title of Prince of Romania, which was handed 
on to his conqueror, Charles of Anjou. The empire of 
Trebizond, in Asia, which covered the entire southern 
coast of the Black Sea, east of the Sangarius, existed until 
the middle of the fifteenth century, but without advantage 
to anyone. 

14. Importance of Byzantine Civilisation. — Even in its 
decline the Greek Empire's security was still a factor in 
civilisation. Athens was but an insignificant provincial 
city and Constantinople could not cure the wounds in- 
flicted by the barbarous Latin occupation; art, enriched 
in the West by Roman and Gothic artists, could now do 
without models and ignore Byzantine methods. Yet By- 
zantium was still the repository of Greek antiquity, and 
in the succeeding centuries its professors and learned men 
were to transmit its treasures to Italy. But the schism, 
revived after 1261 in spite of Michael VIIL, was fatal to 
her. The western people attacked the Greeks, desperately 
and mercilessly, and Mussulman Turks were allowed to 
subdue them, and Latin Christianity took no effective 
measures for their safety. 



476 CONTINENTAL EUROPE, 

15. Cyprus and Armenia. — There were but two inde- 
pendent Latin states remaining in the Latin Orient after 
the loss of Acre in 1391: Cyprus, occupied by princes of 
the house of Lusignan, and the small kingdom of Armenia 
in Cilicia, which kept its native princes until the middle 
of the fourteenth century. Small result after so many 
crusades. 

16. Spread of Mohammedanism. — At the end of the 
thirteenth century the Mohammedans were undisputed 
masters of the entire Mediterranean coast. They spread 
out in a large half circle which stretched from Smyrna to 
the Straits of Gibraltar. But, while one horn of their 
crescent in the Orient was pushed ever forward into the 
Greek Empire, the other in Spain was growing duller and 
duller in centuries of struggles with the Christians. 

17. Formation of the Spanish Kingdoms. — The Iberian 
peninsula had never been entirely conquered by the Arabs. 
The region in the northwest escaped their grasp and from 
it arose two small independent states: Asturia and Canta- 
bria, which, united, formed the kingdom of Oviedo and, 
later, of Leon. The Spanish march in the north, organ- 
ised by the Franks under Charlemagne, was between the 
Ebro and the Pyrenees; from this came, during the Caro- 
lingian decadence, the kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon. 
Then Castile, torn from Navarre, was formed in the 
upper basin of the Douro, and, united to the kingdom of 
Leon (1037), it soon constituted the largest Christian 
kingdom in Spain. Finally the county of Portugal, given 
to a prince of the house of France as fief of the crown of 
Castile (1094), was, in its turn, organised into a kingdom 
(1139). 

Thus there were in Spain four Christian kingdoms. 
On the other hand the caliphate of Cordova dis- 
appeared, to give place to seven Moslem kingdoms. 



MILITARY AND RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS. 477 

Between the Christians and Mussulmans, both equally 
fanatic, war was incessant. The Castilians occupied 
Toledo (1085); the Portuguese, Lisbon (1147); the Ara- 
gonese, Saragossa (1118). The Cid Campeador made his 
name illustrious by exploits which legend and poetry 
have embellished. In the thirteenth century, after a 
defeat inflicted on the Almohades at Las Navas de Tolosa 
(1212), the Mussulmans fell back on all sides. Aragon 
conquered the Balearic Islands and Valencia; Castile took 
Cordova, Jaen, Seville, Cadiz, and reached out to the 
Mediterranean by occupying Murcia and Tarifa; Portugal 
finally annexed Algarve. At the end of the century 
there remained to the Mussulmans but a part of the 
kingdom of Grenada. 

18. Military and Religious Organisations of Spain. — 
During this constant crusade Spain was powerfully 
assisted; while Africa was sending the Almoravides and 
Almohades to the help of their coreligionists, the crusa- 
ders, Frenchmen especially, were swarming into the 
Peninsula. On the other hand, the wars among the 
Spanish kingdoms and their civil strife did not prevent 
organised resistance. Religious and military orders 
founded in the twelfth century kept them united in the 
national struggle. These were the order of Calatrava^ 
founded in 1158; that of Alcantara, in 1176; that of 
Compostelle, in 1175, entrusted with the protection of 
the tomb of Saint James, and of the pilgrims who went 
there in masses, to pray; and last of that of Evora, in 
Portugal, in 1162. They formed a standing army, ever 
ready to march to battle and follow up a victory. The 
holy war moulded the Spanish character and institutions. 
It installed within them a horror of the infidel and here- 
tic, and the pride of blood free from any taint from the 
enemy of the faith. 



478 CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 



19. Political Organisation- of the Spanish Kingdoms. — 

In no other Christian country was the clergy so powerful; 
it was exempt from all obligations; its members were 
solely responsible to their own judicial courts. Its nobil- 
ity was composed of a few old families already settled 
in the mountains of the south at the time of the Arabian 
invasion, some powerful vassals of the king, and some 
gentlemen of slender fortunes who were mostly vassals of 
the great lords. These members of the petty nobility 
were called hidalgos. In Aragon, the chiefs of the no- 
bility were the ricos liomh'es. The people had organised 
and learned how to defend themselves before the kings 
had grown powerful, so they had been forced to grant to 
rich individuals, to religious or city communities, many 
privileges or fueros which the Spaniards guarded with 
jealous care. In Aragon, the defence of public and private 
right was entrusted to a supreme magistrate, the justicia. 
His tribunal judged and settled all differences between 
the king and the orders of the nation, all quarrels among 
their respective orders; he could compel all royal officers 
to be responsible to him for their acts. He was himself 
subject to the restraint of a commission appointed by the 
king and the assembly of the kingdom. After 1265 he 
was chosen from the ranks of the petty nobility, because 
the high seigniors could not be condemned to corporal 
punishment. Affairs of general importance were dis- 
cussed in the Cortes, where sat, on one hand, the prelates 
and heads of religious orders considered as feudal lords; 
on the other, the chiefs of the nobility. In Aragon the 
king opposed, to the rices honibres, the petty nobility and 
deputies of the cities; from the middle of the twelfth 
century the Cortes included four orders, the ricos 
Jiombres, clergy, simple knights (infanzones), and city 
deputies. Castile had no justicia, or supreme judge, and 



1 



POLITICAL DECAY OF GEBMANY. 479 

was therefore much more torn by civil strife than 
Aragon. 

20. Spanish Civilisation Impeded by the Holy War. — 

The struggle for the fueros and against the infidel ab- 
sorbed Spanish activity entirely during several centuries; 
it did not leave the nation enough leisure to contribute 
in any degree to the artistic, literary, and scientific move- 
ment of Europe. Without doubt it had a brilliant epic 
poetry centring around the Cid; Catalonia, which was 
closely related to Languedoc by language and politics^ 
produced famous troubadours; the king of Castile, 
Alfonso X., the Wise (d. 1284), was poet, historian, and 
jurist. He traced the plan for a vast general chronicle, 
and ordered the editing of a code of laws in seven parts, 
which was carried out under his supervision by a group 
of scholars. But Spain's greatest glory in the thirteenth 
century is perhaps having produced the man who best 
represents her genius, that of a conqueror and a believer, 
the founder of the Order of Preachers, Saint Dominic. 

IV. Central Europe: Germany. 

21. The Political Decay of Germany. — From the tenth 
to the thirteenth century Germany changed very much. 
Its frontiers were extended on the west by the addition of 
Lorraine (924) and on the east by the conquest and 
Germanisation of the Slavic peoples between the Elbe 
and the Oder. The divisions within her own territory 
were also modified. In Charlemagne's time the country 
was divided into counties {pagi, Gaue). After him five 
large national duchies were formed: Franconia, Saxony, 
Swabia, Bavaria, and Lorraine. Lorraine was then 
separated into two duchies. Upper and Lower Lorraine; 
Austria and Carinthia were detached from Bavaria, and 
Bohemia was included among the German duchies; finally, 



4m CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 

Thuringia and Friesland had their own existence. With 
these duchies, which correspond to well-outlined geo- 
graphical divisions, other states were formed, quite arti- 
iicially by war and colonisation, such as the marches, 
margravates, or marquisates of the northeast: Misnia, Lu- 
satia, and Brandenburg, and those of the north: Holstein, 
Mecklenburg, and Pomerania. The triumph of feudal- 
ism brought about new transformations. The old 
counties disappeared; certain lords succeeded in grouping 
under their authority several of those territories, but they 
were more often, on the contrary, parcelled out into 
numerous fiefs. This nobility of the second order ac- 
quired hereditary titles from the ei'id of the eleventh 
century; its ranks were enlarged later by agents of the 
principal seigniors and prelates {ministeriales) who at 
iirst exercised almost servile functions, and who later 
succeeded in carving for themselves domains out of the 
:fiefs they were administering. Finally, the national 
duchies weakened themselves in their struggle for power, 
as that of Saxony after the disgrace of Henry the Lion, 
or they disappeared, like those of Franconia and Swabia. 
On the death of Frederick II. Germany was divided up 
into a host of states, small and large, secular and eccle- 
siastical, German and not German, which made the politi- 
cal map of the countj*y strangely complicated. 

22. Definite Triumph of the Feudal Regime in Oer- 
many. — The states enjoyed sovereign power, actual for a 
long time, and legal after Frederick II. formally accorded 
it to the ecclesiastical (1220) and secular seigniors (1232). 
The princes excercised the functions of the former dukes 
and counts, that is to say, they had the right to dispense 
justice and the duty of maintaining the public peace, 
commanding the armed force, and holding local assem- 
blies; they drew, moreover, all royal revenues, and were 



s 



THE HIGH OFFICERS OF THE CROWN. 481 

henceforth considered as masters of the territory. The 
inhabitants, free or not, became their subjects. They 
had vassals who in their turn succeeded in certain coun- 
tries (Swabia, Franconia, and the Ehenish countries), 
in acquiring independence, but who elsewhere, in the 
north, for example, remained subject to the suzerain of 
the country. Some few countries kept their old liberty, 
like Zealand and the Swiss cantons. 

23. The Election to the Crown. — The crown was elect- 
ive. In the thirteenth century the high feudal lords 
disposed of it. The three archbishoprics of Mainz, 
Treves, and Cologne, the count palatine of the Khine, 
the duke of Saxony, and the margrave of Brandenburg 
had each a vote; Bavaria and Bohemia contested the 
seventh, which definitely fell to Bohemia in 1275. Any 
free man might be elected, providing he was eligible, 
spiritually and physically, to govern a kingdom. Foreign- 
ers even were named, as Richard of Cornwall and Alfonso 
of Castile. On the coronation day the king swore to 
respect the rights of each individual and to maintain the 
public peace; if he failed in this, the palatine count could 
judge the case with the other princes. Dating from 
Otto I. the king of Germany became, usually, head of the 
Holy Roman Empire; he then bore the title of Imperator 
Romanorum semper augustus; if the son were elected 
during his father's lifetime, he was titled Bex Romanorum. 
He wore also the two crowns of Italy and Aries. 

24. The High Officers of the Crown.— Close to the king 
were the high officers of the crown. These were at first 
the three chancellors for Germany, Italy, and Burgundy, 
who were the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Treves; 
the count palatine performed the functions of grand 
seneschal, and was as well judge of princes: the duke of 
Saxony was grand marshal; the margrave of Brandenburg, 



482 CONTINEJSTAL EUROPE. 

grand chamberlain; and the king of Bohemia, grand cup- 
bearer. At various times the king would convoke a diet 
{Reichstag) made up of the nobles of the kingdom, that 
is to say, all those who depended immediately on the 
king and who were named princes, whatever might be their 
material power. The diet concerned itself with the mak- 
ing of laws, with public peace, lawsuits concerning princes, 
and with war, etc. In addition to the imperial diets, the 
king held also, in the various provinces of the Empire 
separate diets (Hoftage) at which the provincial nobles 
had to be present; the special interests of the region 
were treated in these assemblies and regulations made for 
the entire Empire were locally enforced there. 

25. Restricted Powers of the Crown. — The king could 
convoke the feudal army, but since Henry VI. he was 
obliged to give the reasons for the intended expedition. 
All vassals summoned had to appear or forfeit their fief. 
The duration of military service was undetermined; if it 
had not been so, the numerous Italian expeditions would 
have been impossible. On the other hand, the vassal was 
given an indemnity for equipment, and in certain cases, 
pay. The royal revenues were small, unless the crown 
fell to a rich noble such as Frederick of Hohenstaufen. 
Outside of his own domains, there were but few contribu- 
tions, due from castles, cities, non-feudal monasteries, 
the right of asylum, payments in kind during war-time, 
and certain earnings of justice and the chancellor's office. 
Yet these resources were so meagre that the Hohen- 
staufen tried to enrich themselves outside of Germany. 
The royal domain, reorganised in northern Italy, brought 
in much money, but when the Hohenstaufen dynasty had 
disappeared this property was depreciated, and the royal 
finances were ruined in the great crisis of the thirteenth 
century. 



GERMAN CIVILISATION, 483 

26, The City Leagues. — A penniless monarchy, almost 
without troops, without a capital and a central adminis- 
tration, was powerless to maintain order. The king 
declared himself protector of the public peace, but he had 
no means to maintain it. The policing of the country 
had to be done by individuals, the cities formed leagues 
for mutual protection; in 1254, Mainz, Cologne, Worms, 
and Speyer, Strasburg, and Basel united for ten years, 
and admitted many nobles into their alliance. Thirteen 
years earlier Liibeck and Hamburg had joined together, 
and they grouped around them other cities and organised 
the famous league known since 1255 as the Hanseatic 
League. Emperors were soon compelled to recognise 
these leagues, which they had originally forbidden. 
Finally the citizen class was admitted to the diet, although 
in an inferior position, and constituted one of the political 
orders of the state. 

27. Grerman Civilisation. Letters. Academic Litera- 
ture. — Germany, whose destiny it seems to be to overstep 
her own boundaries, and who, when the invasion ceased, 
began again to reach out to the south of the Alps and east 
of the Elbe, also felt outside influences, especially in 
matters concerning art and literature. The literary 
renaissance arose, in a way, with Bruno, brother of Otto 
I., and priests of the royal chapel. It was inspired by 
Italy and the East, and expressed itself either in episco- 
pal schools, as at Cologne, Magdeburg, Speyer, or in 
monasteries like that at Eeichenau, which produced Her- 
man the Lame, a prodigy in science; or Saint Gall, where 
Ekkerhart wrote, the first, in date, of German epic poets; 
or Gandersheim, whose abbess was the learned Gerberge, 
sister of Otto the Great, and was noted because of 
Hrotsuitha, celebrated for her epic poems and her prose 
dramas imitated from Terence. This literature was pre- 



484 CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 

eminently learned and pedantic; Latin was the only 
language used, as suited a country and a period when 
priests alone were interested in study. 

28. The National Epic Poem of Germany. — But Ger- 
many had also a powerful native poetry whose most re- 
markable productions were the song of the Nibelungen, 
which relates the struggle* of the Burgundians, and espe- 
cially of the family of Nibelung, against Etzel or Attila; 
and the poem of Gudrun, telling of the marvellous 
adventures of Hagen, prince of Ireland, and his wife 
Hilda, an Indian princess, and their grand-daughter 
Gudrun. Whilst in Siegfried, the hero of the NibeUm- 
gen, who is invulnerable except on his shoulder and who 
dies in the prime of life, we recognise some features of 
Achilles; in Gudrun, spirited away by a disappointed rival, 
yet ever faithful to the beloved whom she has chosen, we 
recall Ulysses's wife. Therefore the Germans look upon 
these two poems as their Iliad and Odyssey. 

29. Chivalrous Epic Poetry in Germany. The Minne- 
singer. — There grew up beside these works, in which 
were revived, in their wild simplicity, memories of the 
great German and Norman invasions, another literary 
branch, but not growing from the old Teutonic trunk. 
The poems of chivalry of France and the lyric poetry of 
the south in Languedoc were grafted on to it and bloomed 
with fresh charm. This borrowed literature pleased the 
taste of the period. The poet Conrad, who wrote at the 
request of Henry the Lion (or his father Henry the 
Proud), imitated the Chanson of Eoland, while the Caro- 
lingian legends passed into the rhymed chronicles of the 
emperors {Kaiser chromic). Others imitated ov translated 
poems from the Eound Table : Parsifal and his son Lohen- 
grin, who was the knight of the swan, Titurel, Tristan 
and Isolde, Eric and Gauvain, the knight of the lion. 



CONFUSED SITUATION OF EUROPE. 485 

Henry of Veldeke borrowed the story of Aeneas from the 
Norman trouvere, Benedict de Saint More, as the priest 
Lamprecht borrowed that of Alexander the Great from 
Aubrey of Besangon (or Briangon), a compatriot of the 
Empress Matilda, wife of Frederick I. Our troubadours 
inspired the Minnesinger — " singers of the spring-time of 
love " — the most celebrated, Henry of Valdeke, Wolfram 
of Eschenbach, Hartmann von der Aue, Godfrey of Stras- 
burg, and especially Walther von der Yogelweide, living 
in the time of Frederick Barbarossa, and writing at the 
time and even at the court of Frederick II., their admirer. 

30. Church Architecture. — Originally art was also bor- 
rowed. It blossomed early in ecclesiastical architecture 
copied from that of Italy and Byzantine Greece. The 
foundations of the choir of Strasburg were laid in 1015; 
the Eoman cathedral of Speyer was mostly built under 
Henry III. The vast cathedrals in the valley of the 
Rhine, called the " Priests' Street " (Pfaffenstrasse), were 
built, enlarged, and decorated by French and Italian 
workmen. Germany gave to her churches majestic or 
huge proportions, which changed their character, but 
which reflected so much the better the idea of grandeur 
which the Hohenstaufen stamped on all about them. 

31. Confused Situation of Europe. — The first impres- 
sion that is left, after going over this general review of 
states in Europe, is a sense of extreme and painful con- 
fusion. Doubtless political and social institutions offer, 
in most of the countries, striking analogies, but the great 
evil of feudalism had been the repeated subdivision of 
sovereign power and the creation of a thousand local 
tyrannies, no government being really strong and well 
armed. If we compare this amazing diversity with the 
dignified simplicity of the Roman world, the contrast is 
remarkable. 



486 CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 

32. Tendency to Unity : the Roman Empire in the Ger- 
manic Nation. — However, the memory of ancient unity 
never disappeared entirely. Charlemagne and Otto the 
Great resuscitated it with splendour, and dating from the 
last half of the tenth century, German sovereigns aspired 
to universal sway. The Hohenstaufen especially were 
deeply imbued with a sense of the rights which the im- 
perial dignity conferred on them. They were not satis- 
fied with reigning in Germany and the annexed kingdoms 
of Italy and Burgundy; they claimed suzerainty over Hun- 
gary, Poland, and Denmark. France acknowledged it for 
a space of time during the reign of Otto the Great; but 
under the Capetians she never let slip an opportunity to 
proclaim her entire independence. In England Richard 
the Lion-Hearted submitted to it through political neces- 
sity, and in order to secure his release from prison; but 
after the death of the Emperor Henry VI. it was no longer 
tolerated. Spain alwaj^s rejected it; she pretended that, 
having been formerly abandoned by the Eomans, the 
emperor of the Eomans had no right over her. Even in 
Italy there were always two rebellious regions: in the 
north, the republic of Venice; in the south, the kingdom 
of Sicily. The kings of Cyprus and Armenia, in the 
Orient, acknowledged themselves vassals of Henry YL 
In a letter purporting to be from Frederick Barbarossa 
to Saladin, but which was certainly written by a contem- 
porary, the emperor is made to invoke the classic mem- 
ories of Crassus killed by the Parthians, and of Mark 
Antony losing himself at Cleopatra's feet, all this going 
to prove that the rights of the Empire over Oriental coun- 
tries were still valid. 

33. Wherein the Empire was Harmful to Italy and Ger- 
many. — These claims seem childlike to us; they were 
taken seriously in the Middle Ages, and the result was 



, EMPIRE HARMFUL TO ITALY AND GERMANY. 487 

that the king of Germany was not a national sovereign. 
The more he believed in his imperial supremacy, the 
farther he led his country into adventures. He sacrificed 
his own interests to an illusion. He wished to reign in 
Eome, his legal capital, but shattered his forces against a 
power that was at first less than his own, then equal to, 
and finally greater than it. The popes, too, dreamed also 
of controlling the Christian world. The struggle be- 
tween these rival powers was inevitable, and it ended in 
the triumph of the Church. The popes, in their turn, set 
up a claim to the disposal of the imperial crown. Inno- 
cent III. evolved a famous theory. He said that it was 
by the Pope's favour that formerly the empire had been 
taken from the Greeks and entrusted to the Germans in 
the person of Charlemagne; the authority which Leo HI. 
on this occasion had exerted, as the representative of God, 
should henceforth and forever remain with his successors; 
hence the popes could, no matter when, withdraw their 
gift, to bestow it on another person or nation which 
might be truly worthy of it. Doubtless the emperor was 
as necessary to the world as the Pope, but pontifical 
power, coming from God, should supersede imperial 
power, coming from man. 

Germany and Italy w^ere victims of the wars under- 
taken to satisfy this twofold ambition, a legacy to the 
Middle Ages from antiquity. In Germany royalty was 
paralysed because it remained elective, and it was elective 
because of its union with the Empire, smce the Papacy, 
assuming the right to crown the emperor, could not toler- 
ate a hereditary empire. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE ROMAN" CHURCH IN" THE THIRTEENTH CEN'TURY.* 

1. European Unity a Gift of the Church. — In default of 
political unity the Middle Ages at least possessed religious 
unity, which was bestowed by the Roman Church. The 
Church, in the thirteenth century, was a strange and 
mighty state. It had no frontiers; in the midst of an 
armed society, it had no armies; but it possessed a learned 
hierarchy, a clearly defined dogma, a horror of all opposi- 
tion, and the art of governing men and making them love 
its domination. 

2. Papal Elections and the Pope's Authority in the 
Church. — The Pope was the head of ecclesiastical society 

* Sources. — The main source for papal history is the vast col- 
lection of papal bulls, whether calendared in works like those of 
Jaffe and Potthast, or published in extenso or in extracts in the 
" Annales Ecclesiastici " of Baronius and Raynaldus (Lucca edition, 
1735-1787, forty-two volumes in folio), and in the volumes of 
"Pontificial Registers," edited by students of the French school in 
Rome, There exists a "Bullarium magnum Romanum," (Luxem- 
bourg, 1747-1758, eleven volumes in folio) which covers the period 
between 450 and 1550. For the clergy of France, the "Gallia 
Christiana," published by the Benedictines, is an important col- 
lection, as well as the " Monasticon Anglicanum" of Dugdale, for 
England, the " Italia sacra " of Ughelli for Italy, and for Spain, the 
" Espana Sagrada," of Florez. 

Literature. — Tardif, " Histoire des Sources du Droit Canon- 
ique"; Fournier, "Les offlcialites au Moyen Age"; Montalembert, 
" The Monks of the West"; Sabatier, " The Life of St. Francis of 
Assisi"; Moeller, "History of the Christian Church," with full 
bibliographies; Allen, " Christian Institutions "; Reichel, "Com- 
plete Manual of Canon Law." 

488 



PAPAL ELECTIONS. 489 

just as the emperor was the chief of the secular order. 
Since the decree of 1059 the cardinals alone had the right 
to choose the Pope; it was merely for form's sake that the 
consent of the people and the clergy of Rome was asked 
after that. Alexander III. did away with even this fig- 
ment of popular intervention, and decreed that, in the 
future, the election should be decided by a vote of two- 
thirds of the electors (1179). Street riots were thus 
avoided, but not rivalries in the College of Cardinals. 
After the death of Clement IV. (1268), they were seven- 
teen months without coming to a decision. Then they 
were imprisoned in the palace at Viterbo, where they lived; 
at the expiration of a year they were still undecided. 
One day, at last, the roof of the building was removed 
and the torrents of rain forced them to make up their 
minds. They elected Gregory X., who, to avoid a recur- 
rence of such a scandal, commanded that hereafter car- 
dinals should be immured in separate cells, and should not 
leave them until a Pope had been chosen (1274). This is 
known as the Conclave. The Pope was then consecrated 
and crowned with the tiara, with great pomp, usually in 
the cathedral of Saint Peter. His reign began from that 
day. In the acts issuing from his chancery he assumed 
the humble title of " servant of the servants of God "; 
but when speaking of himself he was less modest. Greg- 
ory VII. called himself the " vicar of Saint Peter "; Inno- 
cent III., the " vicar of Jesus Christ." This was in no- 
wise vanity on his part, but an assertion that his power 
proceeded from God, and that all his acts were the work 
of God. Therefore, in the Church, almost unbounded 
power was acknowledged to be vested in the Pope. With 
the condition, that he respect the word of the Scriptures, 
the sentences of the Fathers, and the canons of the coun- 
cils, he might decide supremely in all matters of doctrin© 



490 ROMAN CHURCH IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 

and discipline. Belief in his infallibility was not yet 
Tequired, but it was scarcely to be thought that he could 
make a mistake when speaking in the name of God and 
for His Church. 

3. The Decretals and the Corpus Juris Canonici. — The 
decisions, decrees, or decretals of popes had therefore the 
force of law. Innocent III. took great pains in compil- 
ing them. Down to that time the collections of de- 
cretals, even the celebrated " Decretum " compiled 
^bout 1140 by a monk of Bologna, Gratian, had been indi- 
Tidual works, of no authentic value. Innocent III. offi- 
cially ordered one of his notaries to make a like work, 
which, when finished, he sent to the university at Bologna, 
that had, so to say, the monopoly in Europe of teaching 
the canon law, declaring that it might be freely used in 
courts and schools. About 1230 Gregory IX. commanded 
the Dominican, Eaymond of Pennafort, his chaplain, to 
draw up a systematic code of canonical law. This is 
known as the " Five Books of Decretals of Gregory IX." 
Later the work was continued, and when completed, v/as 
termed the " Body of Canon Law " {corpus juris canonici), 
the basis of the absolute power of the popes, as the body 
of civil law {corpus juris civilis) was for that of the 
emperors. 

4. The Papal Authority over Bishops. — The Pope was 
the head of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Archbishops 
took an oath of subjection to him. Bishops were gener- 
ally, after 1215, elected by the chapters, but the Pope re- 
served the right to confirm the election. After the 
eleventh century mention of episcopal elections is often 
couched in the formula, " by the grace of God and of the 
Holy Apostolic See." If two or several candidates were 
elected at the same time, the case was laid before the 
Pope, who might then name a prelate of his own choice. 



THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS. 49 L 

English history affords a famous illustration of this, when 
Innocent III., rejecting for the see of Canterbury both 
the candidate elected by the monks and the prelate 
nominated by King John, chose Stephen Langton. In 
Castile Alfonso X. (1252-1284) acknowledged the Pope's 
right to depose and reinstate bishops, and to annul elec- 
tions, " even if the candidate chosen were worthy." In 
no other country was such a high privilege granted him; 
but it was almost universal that he could dispose as he 
wished of ecclesiastical benefices. Down to Innocent III. 
popes were content to beg the bishops to grant certain 
benefices to their favourites; after that Pope, a formal 
order was sent them. The privilege was grossly abused. 
In the council at Lyons (1246) England protested against 
the numerous Italians enriched by these excessive grants, 
these strangers '^ who had no concern for souls, and who 
levied yearly sixty thousand marks more than the net re- 
ceipts of the king from the entire kingdom." Yet the 
evil was unabated. As to the right of appeal, claimed 
with especial obstinacy by Nicolas L, it assumed unusual 
importance at the end of the eleventh century; there 
were almost no cases, in ecclesiastical or civil matters^ 
which might not be appealed to the court of Eome. 
Finally, the Pope had the right to bind and loose on earth 
as had Jesus Christ in heaven, and to grant remission of 
sins; he shortened the pains of purgatory by distributing 
indulgences and established rank in heaven by canonising 
saints. 

Associated with the Pope was the College of Cardinals- 
and the group of offices or tribunals which comprised his 
court. 

6. The College of Cardinals. — The cardinals formed a 
college empowered to elect, as has been seen, the Pope in 
conclave. The Pope chose from among them his extraor^ 



492 ROMAN CHUBCE IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

dinary ambassadors, or legates a latere. The cardinals 
were divided into three classes: the cardinal bishops, 
priests, and deacons. Innocent IV. bestowed the red hat 
on cardinal legates; later the others were given it also. 

6. The Court at Rome and the Pontifical Chancery. — 
Among the departments which made up the Eoman curia, 
or better, the Court of Eome, the most important were 
those of the chancery, through which passed all affairs 
of the Papacy, one might almost say of Christianity, In 
the eleventh century it was presided over by a chancellor 
and vice chancellor, assisted by notaries for the drawing 
up of acts and the supervision of inferior agents. Four 
departments were subject to their orders: the bureau of 
minutes, where were drawn up, most concisely, the 
minutes (a kind of abstract) of acts written in the Pope's 
name; the engrossing bureau, where the original acts 
were written out, or copies to be sent to certain indi- 
viduals; the registry bureau, where acts which were to be 
kept were copied into parchment registers; and finally 
the bureau of seals, where the " bull," or seal of the Pope, 
was affixed to acts. The bull was a ball of lead flattened 
on two sides, bearing on one side the Pope's name in- 
scribed between the arms of a cross, and on the other the 
effigies of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The most minute 
care was taken to guard the authenticity of pontifical acts. 
For example, different formulas were used for each kind, 
of acts; the language could be scanned in peculiar rhythm; 
the way of dating and affixing the bull, etc., was deter- 
mined by precise rules which counterfeiters — and they 
.were many — taxed their ingenuity to evade. The cus- 
toms of the chancellor's office, or to express it differently, 
the rules of pontifical diplomatics, were a model for most 
of the European chanceries, but no state, except England, 
has possessed archives so well kept as has the Holy See; 



FINANCES OF THE HOLY SEE. 49$ 

certainly none in the Middle Ages were of such a uni- 
versal character. 

7. Finances of the Holy See. — To support the clerks of 
the chancery and church dignitaries, to maintain the 
pomp which even the most economical popes were obliged 
to affect, to provide for the expenses of warlike enterprises 
and others, of a different nature, undertaken throughout 
Christendom by the papal policy, large sums were re- 
(j[uired. At first popes drew the revenues from Saint 
Peter's patrimony, and all the domains in Italy in the 
possession of the Holy See. About the end of the twelfth 
century a priest of the Eoman Church, Cencio Savelli,. 
who became Pope Honorius III., made out a book of the 
papal revenues of this sort (Liber censuum) a valuable 
document for the comprehension of the financial adminis- 
tration of the pontifical state. Added to this was Peter's. 
Pence, paid in some countries, especially England, since 
the eighth century; Gregory VII. demanded it of Wil- 
liam the Conqueror, who consented to pay, since his 
predecessors had done so. John Lackland, on acknowl- 
edging himself a vassal of the Holy See (1213), fixed the 
amount of tribute at one thousand marks — seven hundred 
for England and three hundred for Ireland. Other vas- 
sal states also paid tribute; Frederick II. promised one 
thousand gold pieces for Sicily. In addition, many 
churches and convents paid for rights of protection; 
bishops and abbots paid for the ratification of their elec- 
tions, and archbishops to obtain the pallium; the for- 
warding of bulls and other pontifical letters was taxed, 
as well as dispensations and indulgences. Yet this was 
not enough, and in order to meet the urgent demands of 
the moment, the popes had recourse to special taxes im- 
posed on the clergy. The financial system of the court 
of Rome has been mainly developed since Innocent IV. 



494 ROMAN CHURCH IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

8. The Councils and Christian Dogma. — The popes con- 
voked councils when it was necessary to determine points 
of dogma or make weighty decisions concerning general 
interests of state. Those which were supposed to con- 
cern Christendom at large were called Ecumenical. In- 
cluding the last, which was held at the Vatican in 1870, 
there have been twenty of these. The council convoked 
hy Innocent III., in 1215, at the Lateran, is reckoned as 
the twelfth, and the one held at Lj^ons (1245-124:7) as 
the thirteenth. The first eight were common to the 
Greek and Latin churches; but dating from the ninth 
(1123), they are, in reality, concerned only with the 
interests of the Eoman Church. The number of mem- 
bers in the councils naturally varied. In that of 1215 
ihere were present four hundred and twelve bishops, 
:seventy-one primates and metropolitans, more than two 
thousand clerics from all countries and of every order. 
The Latin patriarchs from Constantinople and Jerusalem 
were there; those of Antioch and Alexander were repre- 
sented; the rulers of Byzantium, Germany, France, Eng- 
land, Spain, Hungary, Cyprus, and Jerusalem sent am- 
bassadors. This concourse proved, in the most formal 
way, the immense prestige which Innocent III. exerted 
over the Christian world; the speedy conclusion of the 
deliberations testified to his power. Three days, in fact, 
were all that were needed to approve (one cannot say dis- 
cuss) seventy canons relating to the most varied and 
knotty questions. The attendance at the council of 
Lyons was much less numerous, for there were only three 
patriarchs and one hundred and forty bishops, almost all 
English and French. 

9. The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. Bishops. — All Chris- 
tian countries were divided into bishoprics and arch- 
bishoprics. As has been indicated, bishops and arch- 



THE CHAPTER. 495 

bishops were more often, after 1215, elected by chapters. 
And also, from that time on, their dependence on the 
Holy See was unquestioned. As in the Pope lay the 
" plenitude " of ecclesiastical power, he was supposed to 
delegate a part of his " solicitude " to bishops, who thus 
became his lieutenants. He could, moreover, interfere in 
the governments of individual churches, and even with- 
draw from the jurisdiction of the " ordinary " any chap- 
ters and monasteries whatsoever which were then said 
to be " exempt "; absolve penitents from certain grievous 
faults, and bestow benefices directly which would have 
been, in common law, within the gift of the diocesan 
bishop. However, the power which the latter wielded was 
still considerable. He had, in fact, the power to confer 
orders, and he held jurisdiction over his diocese. 1. He 
conferred the major orders and the sacrament of confir- 
mation, consecrated other bishops, blessed new abbots 
and abbesses, consecrated the oil and chrism on Holy 
Thursday, blessed the holy ornaments, bells, churches, 
and cemeteries, and degraded priests for serious offences. 
2. He had, within his diocese and over priests, judicial 
and administrative power; he apportioned and supervised 
public instruction, conducted inquiries regarding habits 
and faith {inquisition), founded and protected charitable 
and hospital establishments. 

10. The Chapter. — This extended and multiform au- 
thority was shared and limited by the chapter and arch- 
deacons. The chapter was the college of canons. Com- 
munal life was discontinued for them, in France, in the 
twelfth century; then property belonging to the chapters 
was divided into " prebends," each one being devoted to 
the needs of a canon. Each one lived in his own estab- 
lishment, therefore, but they all met at service and in 
the capitulary assemblies. They then had their place or 



496 ROMAN CHURCE IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

stall in the choir. The dean sat in the first stall — ^he 
directed the services and presided over the chapter meet- 
ings; the second was occupied by the chorister, who led 
the liturgical singing; then came the archdeacons, the 
chancellor, the theologian — who interpreted the Scrip- 
tures, the scholasticus — who presided over the cathedral 
school, the penitentiary, the custodian or treasurer — ^who 
was entrusted with the Church treasures, and the cham- 
berlain — who administered the temporal affairs of the 
chapter. The chapter which named a bishop was often 
withdrawn from his jurisdiction and placed directly 
under a metropolitan or the Pope. They were two simi- 
lar forces, rivals and often hostile. Collegiate churches 
were those possessing a chapter, but not having a bishop. 

11. The Archdeacons and the Officials. — The archdea- 
cons were the bishop's lieutenants. For him, and in his 
name, they visited the diocese and presided over diocesan 
synods and the episcopal tribunal. As a rule, there were 
several in one diocese, which was thus subdivided into 
archdeaconries. They often infringed on the powers of 
ihe bishop. In order to check them, bishops estab- 
lished, dating from 1170, the so-called " officialty," an 
ecclesiastical court into which came all clerical and matri- 
monial suits. The president of the tribunal, or the 
^' official," was a creature of the bishop. His growing au- 
thority was not long in ruining that of the archdeacon. 

12. The Diocesan Synods and the National Councils. — 
At stated times the bishop gathered about him some- 
times the priests from the episcopal city, sometimes those 
from the entire diocese who had the charge of souls. In 
the latter instance they formed the diocesan synod, in 
which the bishop discussed the general affairs of the 
diocese. In the same way metropolitans convoked pro- 
vincial synods, and there were synods or national coun- 



PARISH PRIESTS. 497 

C\h, including the entire clerical body of a country, just 
as the ecumenical councils united the clergy of Chris- 
tianity. 

13. The Dioceses and the Bishops without a Diocese. 

The number of bishops has varied. In some countries 
there were as many bishops as there were former Roman 
cities. This holds good in France especially, where the 
ecclesiastical departments, until the end of the old 
regime, represented the administrative divisions of Ro- 
man Gaul. Hence the reason for naming a bishop's resi- 
dence a city. In England, for instance, there was always 
a sharp distinction in administrative terms between the 
cities, or episcopal towns, and other towns or fortified 
boroughs. The conquests of the Latins in the Orient 
and Palestine led to the creation of numerous dioceses; 
they disappeared naturally when Latin domination was 
overthrown, but the titles survived. The bishops without 
a diocese, whom the Pope named to these sees, were 
called bishops in partiius infidelium. 

14. Parish Priests. — Parishes were directed by priests 
called, according to the locality, deans, rectors, priors or 
chaplains, and cures, after the middle of the thirteenth 
century. Sometimes they were named by bishops, more 
often by the nobles who supported the officiating priest; 
the nobles were then said to be the patrons of the parish. 
The right of patronage and presentation of livings was 
most jealously guarded by nobles, especially in England, 
and involved most discriminating legislation after the 
twelfth century. Archpriests were also instituted by the 
common council of the bishop and the archdeacon. 
They were entrusted with the execution of diocesan 
statutes and the supervision of the habits of the priests. 
In the thirteenth century they even had a jurisdiction 
and seal. 



498 ROMAN GHTIRCH IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 

15. The Regular Clergy. The Principal Religious 
Orders. — The " regular clerg}^ " made up the host of 
monks, living under a regula, or rule, and united under 
the guidance of abbots in large monasteries or abbeys; and 
under the direction of priors or provosts in the priories, 
which were less important communities depending on an 
abbey. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were the 
golden age of monasticism, which had an amazing devel- 
opment and diversity of form. The diffusion of monastic' 
life was certainly one of the characteristic features of the 
Middle Ages, and the most striking effort that was made, 
in this period, to soften and improve social conditions. 
The monasteries can be divided into six principal cate- 
gories : 

1. Order of Hermits. — The most celebrated to-day is 
the Grande Chartreuse, founded in 1084 in Dauphine, by 
Saint Bruno of Cologne. Fasting and almost continual 
silence were observed, complete abstinence from meat, 
and perpetual seclusion. There was also the order of 
Grammont in Limousin; Mount Carmel, which, founded 
in 1156, was transported to Europe in the thirteenth cen- 
tury; and the Hermits of Saint Augustine, definitely con- 
stituted in 1256. 

2. Charitahle Orders. — In 1099 Eobert of Arbrissel 
founded a Benedictine abbey for women at Fontevrault, 
with separate buildings for magdalens, lepers, disabled 
persons, and even an abbey for men. A woman was placed 
at the head of all these houses consecrated to prayer and 
deeds of mercy. The order was celebrated throughout 
western France. Eleanor of Aquitaine gave it especial 
devotion and wished to be buried there. The order of 
the hospital of brothers of Saint Anthony was founded at 
Vienne in Dauphine, at the time of the first crusade, and 
that of the Holy Ghost in 1178 at Montpellier. The 



THE REGULAR CLERGY. 499 

order of Trinitarians or Mathurins was created in 1198 for 
the ransoming of Christians taken by Mussulman pirates. 

3. Orders for the Reform of Monastic Life. — The canons 
of Saint Augustine were cloistered monks, subject to a 
rule taken from the writings of the illustrious bishop of 
Hippo. An abbey of this order was established at Saint 
Victor, at the gates of Paris, by Louis YI. (1113); it be- 
came, under the guidance of William of Champeaux, a 
flourishing seminary for philosophical and theological 
studies. However, the Augustinian canons never held a 
sway equal to that of the Premonstrantes. This was 
founded by a German, ISTorbert, who was of the family of 
the lords of Gennep at Xanten on the property of Pre- 
montre, in Coucy forest, which the count of Champagne, 
Thibaut IV., gave him (1120). He gathered about him, 
not monks, but regular canons; for these religious priests 
the cloister was merely a place of retirement where they 
prepared themselves for teaching, preaching, and pastoral 
services. They went out thence as priests pledged to 
poverty; chaste, disciplined, and zealous missionaries. 
Saint Norbert^s idea suited so well the needs of the time 
that many monasteries were formed on this model in 
France and northern Germany. Norbert himself died 
(1134) archbishop of Magdeburg, after having helped to 
spread the Christian faith in Slavic and pagan countries 
w^hich had scarcely begun to be Germanised. 

4. Orders of Chivalry. — We have already mentioned the 
Templars and the Hospitallers, which were spread 
throughout Europe, as well as the Teutonic Order and 
that of the Brothers of the Sword, bent on the conquest 
of the Slavic provinces along the Baltic, and the four 
orders created in Spain for the war against the Mussul- 
mans. They were solely occupied in this warfare; but 
they were recruited almost entirely from the ranks of 



500 ROMAN CHURCH IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 



the nobility. Members of the clergy were forbidden 
to carry arms; these monk-knights were sworn, on the 
contrary, to perform military service. Their rank in 
society, which they assumed by right of birth, and the 
services rendered to the Christians, caused great riches 
to flow into their hands. Their pride was so much the 
more increased, and soon their power became inimical to 
kings and even to the Pope. 

16. Cluny, Citeaux, and Clairvaux. — 5. Cluny and the 
Sister Houses. — Cluny, having led during the entire 
eleventh century the ecclesiastical reform movement, 
had grown somewhat lukewarm in enjoyment of the vic- 
tory gained by Gregory VII. The order was reformed at 
Citeaux, a monastery founded in 1098, near Dijon, by 
Eobert, abbot of Molesme, who subjected the monks to 
the severest Benedictine rule. The numbers increased so 
rapidly that the third abbot sent colonies to La Ferte, 
Pontigny, Clairvaux, and Morimond. These are the 
" four daughters " of Citeaux. The most celebrated was. 
Clairvaux, which was founded by Saint Bernard. The 
monks, both Cistercians and Bernardins, wore white 
gowns and cloaks. They were called White Monks, to dis- 
tinguish them from those of Cluny or Black Monks. 
Their abbeys were held together by means of the general 
chapters which gathered all the abbots at plenary assem- 
blies. This was a powerful organisation which other 
orders, such as the Premonstrants, adopted, and which 
helped much to discipline the regular clergy, as the secu- 
lar clergy had been for some time under episcopal au- 
thority. 

17. The Benedictine Rule. — ^Almost all the orders that 
have been reviewed were founded before the end of the 
twelfth century, a new proof of the fruitfulness of this 
really decisive period in the history of the Middle Ages. 



^ 



LOOSENESS IN THE HABITS OF THE CLERGY. 501 

It should be noted, moreover, that most of them origi- 
nated in France; a fresh proof of French expansion at a 
time when feudal society, by yielding to discipline, began 
to grow beneficent. With the exception of those monas- 
teries, which were quite numerous, in which the rule 
of Saint Augustine was still in force, almost all observed 
that of Saint Benedict, revised with increased vigour by 
Saint Bernard. From the eighth to the eleventh cen- 
tury the Benedictines were untiring workers in agri- 
culture and the improvement of land; later they were es- 
pecially zealous in intellectual work. Many were set to 
translate old manuscripts; others wrote all kinds of books 
on history, theology, literature, or science. It is in 
great part due to them that ancient literature was not 
entirely lost to us. 

18. Looseness in the Habits of the Clergy, Especially of 
the Cloistered Orders. — But the astonishing prosperity of 
religious houses tended to a relaxation of discipline. 
Master Fulk, several times employed by Richard the Lion- 
Hearted, in negotiations with Philip Augustus, said to 
the king of England one day when he was annoyed with 
him: "You have with you three daughters who will keep 
you out of the kingdom of heaven: Pride, Luxury^ and 
Avarice." The king answered him : " I have already 
married these three daughters: the first and oldest. Pride, 
to the Templars; the second. Luxury, to the Black Monks; 
the third and last. Avarice, to the White Monks." This 
was more than a mere witticism. Startling and sad reve- 
lations are met with on each page of a highly valuable 
register, recording the visits made to the churches and 
religious houses of his diocese by Eudes Rigaud, arch- 
bishop of Rouen, certainly one of the most honest men of 
Saint Louis's time. Here again, as in the twelftli century, 
the Church tried to stamp out the evil herself, and, as 



502 ROMAN CHURCH IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

then, the initiative came from the regular clergy. It 
v/as the new orders which undertook to recall the 
Church to her real character of humility and charity. 
The originators were a Spaniard^ Dominic, and an Italian^ 
Francis of Assisi. 

19. The Mendicant Orders : Saint Francis and the Priars 
Minor. — 6. Mendioant Orders. — Francis was born in 1182, 
at Assisi, an Umbrian town that had been enriched by 
commerce. His father, Bernadone, was a man of means 
and he, himself, in his youth loved to spend money reck- 
lessly. Suddenly, at the expiration of some festival in 
which his comrades had proclaimed him king of youth, he 
renounced the possessions of this world and the material 
joys which they procure. He resolved to live from that 
time on charity, and began to preach love of mankind and 
the virtue of poverty. Disciples soon joined him and he 
established them in a ruined chapel, called the Portiun- 
cula, near Assisi; he exacted from them, in all its aus- 
terity, the triple monastic vow of poverty, obedience, and 
chastity (1209). He named them Friars Minor {Minoritce) 
because he looked upon them as the least in the kingdom 
of Grod. However, they were not cloistered; quite the con- 
trary; he ordered them to live in the world so as to con- 
vert it the better. He advised them to be gentle and 
cheerful, to look closely into and relieve poverty, yet 
never be discouraged. In all these precepts he set the 
example: enduring joyfully disdain and insult; caring per- 
sonally for lepers for whom originally he felt intense 
aversion; spreading out his love over all creation, upon 
beasts and men, whom he called indifferently his brothers 
and sisters. The new order and rule which the founder 
imposed were approved by Honorius III. (1223). Saint 
Francis also established a minor order for women, the 
order of St. Clara, but they were sworn to perpetual 



SAINT DOMINIC. 603 

silence and seclusion (1224). Finally a third order was 
instituted, comprising laymen only, living in the world, 
owning property and marrying, rich or poor, noble or 
workman, simply required to observe the great precepts of 
faith and Christian charity. The Father Seraphic, as he 
was called, died October 4, 1226, after having sought 
martyrdom in vain in Egypt during the fifth crusade. 
His reputation for holiness was already so great that he 
was canonised two years later. 

20. Saint Dominic and the Preaching Friars. — Dominic 
was born in old Castile, near Osma, in 1170. He was, 
in contrast to Saint Francis, a learned theologian. Saint 
Francis did not trouble himself about heresies; Dominic, 
on the contrary, was their untiring adversary, especially 
during the wars against the Albigenses. He organised 
the first brotherhood of his disciples in Toulouse itself, 
the seat of heretics, and succeeded in having it accepted 
by Honorius III. He travelled through Italy, Spain, and 
France, stirring up partisans, chiefly among learned men, 
zealously orthodox; founding numerous monasteries, and 
training his monks for preacliing. He named them the 
Preaching Friars. In 1220 he convoked, at Bologna, the 
first general chapter of the order, and imposed upon them, 
as Saint Francis did on his flock, the obligation to beg. 
The two great reformers attained the same result, 
though in different ways. Saint Francis humbled himself 
so as to be on a plane with the poor and lowly. Saint 
Dominic commanded his followers to renounce temporal 
possessions, so as to prove to heretics that it was possible 
to live according to the teachings of the Gospels and yet 
remain faithful to the Eoman Church. He died the 
following year (1221). As among the Franciscans, so 
among the Dominicans, there was an order of women and 
a third order for repentant laymen. The two orders had 



604 BOMAN CHURCH IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

about the same organisation: they were divided into 
provinces^ administered, among the Minors, by a minister, 
and among the Preachers, by a prior; and as a body they 
were subject to a general, who was answerable solely to the 
Pope. 

21. Marvellous Success of the Mendicant Orders. — Their 
success was marvellous. Soon there were convents every- 
where; even the Franciscans established them, relaxing 
the strict observance of their primitive rule. The popes 
lavished privileges upon them; they could receive con- 
fessions, and bury in their own cemeteries without episco- 
pal authorisation, and hence excited the jealousy of the 
parish priests, whose revenues were thereby diminished. 
They had their own schools, and were given chairs in 
universities; and in this way the animosity of the teach- 
ing fraternity was aroused. But contests only stimulated 
their zeal and brought them in fresh privileges. The 
Dominicans were particularly entrusted with inquests 
concerning heresies and grew to be formidable by organis- 
ing the Eoman Inquisition. 

22. Religious Excitement. The Spiritual and the Eter- 
nal Gospel. — The Franciscans were compromised, at one 
time, by giving themselves up to mysticism. Many among 
them, those who accepted in its entire severity the Mas- 
ter's doctrines, adopted ideas taken from the books of 
Abbot Joachim, founder of the order of Fiore in Calabria 
(1202). The latter divided human life into three suc- 
cessive stages, corresponding to the three persons of the^ 
Trinity. " The first, that of the Father and the Law, 
was the secular age and of married men; the second, that 
of the Son or the Gospels interpreted literally, was the- 
age of the secular clergy; the third, that of the Holy 
Spirit, should be the age of monks.'' For rigid Fran- 
ciscans the Master was the initiator into this third period^ 



ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH AMONG LAYMEN. 505 

which was to be the reign of the Holy Spirit; this is why 
they were called "Spirituals/' One of their number, 
Brother Gherardino of San Donnino, wrote in 1254, 
at Paris, a treatise on the "eternal Gospels," in which 
the Gospels, stripped of all enigmas and figures of speech, 
would be readily understood and would complete the work 
of the Church. The treatise was condemned by Pope 
Alexander IV., who proscribed at the same time the writ- 
ings of Joachim and his disciples. The Spiritual sect 
continued, however, until the end of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, placing the Franciscan order, as a whole, in dis- 
favour, which contributed to the immense success of the 
Dominicans. 

23. The Enemies of the Church among Laymen. — How- 
ever, the Church, so strongly organised, a true copy of 
feudal and general society, did not fail to have enemies. 
These were not merely among statesmen, sceptics, like 
Frederick II., who would have supported the Church on' 
condition that she lent herself to his service, but those 
who opposed readily to the injunctions of faith philosophic 
doubt or even incredulity. The Church had still greater 
difficulties to withstand in the form of heresies. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE CHURCH AND HERESIES.* 

1. Albigenses (Cathari) and Vaudois. — Dating from the 
eleventh century, antichristian beliefs, drawn from the 
East, had spread throughout northern Italy and the 
southern provinces of France. In the former place the 
sectarians were known as Patarini, because they took 
part in the social movement which stirred Lombardy so 
deeply in the time of Gregory VII.; in France they were 
called BonsJiommes, Pohlicans. The leaders of the sect, 
those who had renounced marriage to lead the life of the 
pure, were Cathari, or " Perfect Ones." Later, they were 
classed under the more general name of x\lbigenses, be- 
cause Albi was so filled with them. In the twelfth cen- 
tury they organised a rival church, which had its priests, 
bishops, and councils. Some there were who had not 
thrown off orthodoxy, yet were tolerant towards heresy. 
Raymond VI., count of Toulouse, kept with him a 
Catholic bishop and an Albigensian priest, to make sure of 
being in favour with God, however the case might be. 
Another sect was organised about 1160 by a rich citizen 

*SoiiRCES. — "La Chanson de la Croisade centre Les Albegois," 
edition of P. Meyer, 2 vols. (1875-1879). P. Fredericq: "Corpus 
documentorum inquisitionis hsereticae pravitatis neerlandicae." 
First part, 1025-1520 (1889). 

Literature. — Vaissete, " Histoire de Languedoc," new edition, 
14 vols., 4to; Mtlller, "Die Waldenser und ihre einzelnen 
Gruppen"; Molinier, " L'lnquisition dans de Midi de la France au 
Xllle et au XlVe Si^cle "; Lea, "A History of the Inquisition of 
the Middle Ages." 

506 



MURDER OF THE LEGATE. 507 

of Lyons, Valdes or Yaldus. The Vaudois were Chris- 
tians whom study of the New Testament had diverted 
from the official Church. They wished to live like the 
apostles, charitable and poor, entirely devoted to preach- 
ing and good works; but they rejected purgatory, masses 
for the dead, and confession made to priests of evil lives. 
They spread rapidly through Piedmont and Lombardy, 
Lorraine and Alsace, Switzerland, Bavaria, and Austria. 
Condemned in the council at Verona (1184), they were 
included in the general persecution of the Albigenses. 
They continued to live on, nevertheless; rejecting the 
authority of the Church because of the corrupt lives of 
the clergy. The Albigenses enjoyed relative peace dur- 
ing the twelfth century, but this ended as soon as Inno- 
cent III. ascended the throne. 

2. Fntile Efforts to Convert the Albigenses. — First the 
Pope tried persuasion. He sent into the south monks 
from Citeaux with full authority to act, not only against 
heretics, but also negligent prelates. They lost their time 
in idle discussions. In an interview which Saint Dominic 
held with them, the priests, at Montpellier (1206), he 
reproached them for their display, which contrasted with 
the simplicity of the Albigenses, and which scandalised 
true believers. They acknowledged what he said as true, 
but were not courageous enough to follow his example. 
Dominic was soon left alone with the legate, Peter de 
Castelnau. 

3. Murder of the Legate. The Count of Toulouse Ex- 
communicated, 1209. — The most powerful among the 
princes who protected, rather through indifference than 
conviction, the heresy of the Cathari was Raymond VI., 
count of Toulouse; the legate first appealed to him. He 
predicted " that the wrath of God would fall upon him and 
crush him "; then, as Raymond did not yield, he excom* 



508 THE CHURCH AND HERESIES. 

municated him (May, 1207). The Pope confirmed the 
sentence in violent terms, which scarcely seemed to dis- 
turb the count of Toulouse. After some useless discus- 
sion, E^ymond dismissed the legate with threatening 
words, and he was followed by one of the count's servants 
and killed. The murder was expiated with more blood 
than was that of Thomas a Becket. The Pope had the 
monks of Citeaux preach a crusade. Since he granted the 
same privileges as for an expedition to Palestine and forty 
days' military service was all that was required of the cru- 
saders, they came in swarms. The north literally rushed 
upon the south. 

4. Conquest cf the South. Simon de Montfort. — Two 
hundred thousand men, led by Arnaud, abbot of Citeaux, 
had already reached Valencia, when Eaymond VI. yielded; 
,but he only succeeded in diverting the storm which 
threatened him to his nephew, Raymond Roger, viscount 
of Beziers and Carcassonne. Beziers was taken by assault 
^nd the inhabitants massacred. " Strike them all," said 
the Pope's legate, to the cut-throats. '^ God will know his 
own! " It is doubtful whether this hideous speech was 
uttered, but it is certain that more than twenty thousand 
persons perished in the massacre. The crusaders then 
went on to lay siege to Carcassonne; the place was very 
strong, as its walls, still st-anding, bear witness. Finally 
the viscount was taken in ambush, and while they were 
pretending to negotiate with him, the place was taken by 
surprise. The booty was immense, but they took few 
prisoners. In order to hold the conquered territory, the 
victors chose, as their leader, Simon de Montfort, an 
ambitious and bigoted man, a soldier full of re- 
sources, and an able administrator. He had already 
taken part in the fourth crusade; but he had been of the 
jsmaU number who refused to go to Zara or Constantinople 



THE COUNCIL OF THE LATER AK. 509 

and who had honestly performed their duty in the Holy 
Land. The authority given him was at first temporary, 
but he acquitted himself of his task with so much zeal 
and persistence that he at last became the recognised 
leader of the crusade. He was only too well fitted for 
the task! 

6. Ruin of Raymond VI. — Meanwhile Raymond VI. had 
gone to Ebme to complain to the Pope of the frightful 
havoc committed in the South. The Pope received him 
well, but sent him to the legates to vindicate himself for 
the murder of Peter of Castelnau. In fact he did appear 
at the councils of Saint Gilles (September, 1210) and 
Aries (January, 1211). The conditions imposed on him 
were so shameful that he took up arms; all, however, 
lords and citizens. Catholics, Albigenses, or Vaudois, 
answered his call to war to fight " the strange folk of the 
north." Simon, leading an army that was constantly 
reinforced, took Lavaur (1211), gained a victory over 
Raymond VI. at Castelnaudery (1212) which assured him 
possession of most of the counties of Toulouse, Foix, and 
Comminges, and finally he repulsed, under the walls of 
Muret, a great army which Peter of Aragon had just 
brought to the aid of his brother-in-law, Raymond VI. 
(1213). 

6. The Conncil of the Lateran (1215) Authorises the 
Spoliation of the South. — Up to that time the king of 
France had not moved. In 1215 his son Louis appeared 
in the south with an army; he entered Toulouse with the 
legate. Bishop Folquet, and Simon de Montfort. Then 
Raymond's ruin was completed. In vain he plead and 
promised, so as to move Innocent III. The council of the 
Lateran renewed, confirmed, and extended all decrees 
issued already against heresy. As for Raymond VI., 
** considering that, according to certain indications, his 



510 THE CHURCH AND HERESIES, 

country could not be held in the Catholic faith," the 
Pope decreed that he should be " stripped forever of his 
power and banished from his country to do penance for 
his sins." The conquered territory was given to Simon, 
who qualified himself " by the grace of God, count of 
Toulouse, viscount of Beziers and Carcassonne, duke of 
Narbonne.''' The remainder, that is to say the mar- 
quisates of Beaucaire and Provence, were to be entrusted 
to the guardianship of trusty men, to be returned to 
Paymond's son on his majority, " if he were worthy of 
them." The booty was so vast that Simon was able to 
organise more than four hundred fiefs, which were given 
to French seigniors; French bishops were also invested 
with the vacant dioceses and conducted searching inquests 
into the faith of the people. The Inquisition was begin- 
ning! 

7. Uprising of Raymond VI., and Death of Simon de 
Montfort, 1218. — Innocent III. did not live to see the 
end of a war which he had zealously promoted, although 
he seems to have regretted its excesses. It is credible 
that his hand was forced at the Lateran Council and that 
indirectly he wished to encourage Eaymond YI. to resist 
when he told him, on dismissing him: "Whatever you 
may do, may God help you to begin well and end better! " 
Paymond soon took up arms and reentered Toulouse to the 
intense joy of the inhabitants, who massacred all French- 
men found in the streets (September, 1217). Simon laid 
siege to his capital and was killed there, and the crusaders' 
army beat a retreat. 

8. The King of France Sole Gainer by the War against 
the Albigenses. — A new crusade was then preached in 
France; the son of Philip Augustus took the cross for the 
second time, but he was defeated before Toulouse (1219). 
Simon's oldest son, Amaury, continued the struggle; he 



DESTRUCTION OF CIVILISATION. 511 

vas beaten at every point, and concluded a treaty with 
young Eaymond VII., who had just succeeded his father 
(1222). He finally left the south and ceded all his claims 
to the new king of France, Louis VIII., who took his way 
south for the third time. The king seized Avignon after 
a siege of three months, while other crusaders entered 
Nimes, Carcassonne, Beziers, Castres, Albi; death over- 
took him at Montpensier in Auvergne (May 8, 1226). 
But Eaymond VII. was so exhausted that he gave up 
the fight. By a treaty negotiated at Meaux, concluded 
and sworn to at Paris before the doors of Notre Dame 
(April 12, 1229), he was deprived of the dioceses of Nar- 
bonne, Maguelonne, Nimes, Uzes, and Vivers, Velay, 
Gevaudan, Albigeois, and a part of Toulousain; the vis- 
count of Beziers was despoiled of the greater part of his 
states. Raymond VII. kept what remained on condition 
of marrying his daughter Jane to a brother of Louis IX.; 
in case no child should be bom of this marriage, the 
county of Toulouse should revert to the crown. 

9. Destruction of Civilisation in the South. — There 
was a worse result. The south was ruined by a merciless 
w^ar lasting twenty years. The persecutions directed 
against the real or supposed heretics suppressed the de- 
velopment of a civilisation that had been original and 
brilliant; Languedoc, forcibly annexed to northern 
France, was nothing more than a dependence of the 
royal domain. Doubtless the growth of French unity had 
made a great advance, but was it necessary to buy so 
desirable a result at the price of so many tears and so 
much blood? There, as in the Orient, the crusades had 
piled up nothing but ruins, and the south of France never 
recovered entirely from this crushing blow. 

Another result of the crusade against the Albigenses 
was the establishment of the Inquisition. 



512 THE CHURCH AND HERESIES. 

10. The Inquisition. — It has been already seen that 
bishops were empowered and enjoined to watch over the 
lives of their iiock; but in the beginning there were no 
peculiar penalties against heresy. The situation altered 
in the eleventh century. In the time of Eobert II. it is 
recorded that thirteen heretics were burned at Orleans 
(1022). Louis VIII. ordered the same punishment to be 
inflicted on the Albigenses (1226). By the council of 
Toulouse (1229) the parish priest and three trustworthy 
laymen in each parish were ordered to seek out heretics. 
Finally, in 1233, Gregory IX. entrusted this mission to 
the Dominicans. At the same time special laws were 
enacted to cover this new species of crime. Torture 
might be used to draw out an avowal of heresies from 
suspected persons; they were denied the aid of lawyers 
and doctors; anyone who persisted, in spite of everything, 
in his error (as if error in a matter of opinion could be a 
crime amenable to civil law) should be put to death; 
those who retracted might still be " immured "; and 
lastly, the least implicated were marked by a red cross on 
their clothing and forever stamped with infamy. The 
punishment was perpetual, on earth as in heaven! These 
cruelties brought on fresh revolts: the inquisitor, Conrad 
of Marburg, was killed in Germany (1236); the inquisitors 
in Languedoc were massacred at Avignonet (1243), and 
this attempt almost revived the smouldering fires of the 
wars against the Albigenses. But, in spite of all, the 
persecutors accomplished their object, and heresy was 
finally stamped out at the end of the thirteenth 
century. 

11. The Enemies of the Church in the Ecclesiastical 
World. — The fierceness of the war against the i^lbigenses 
was a serious warning to the Church. Her moral sway, 
so great in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, began to 



PREDOMINANCE OF THE CHURCH. 513 

weaken in the thirteenth. The rapid spread of the 
Mendicant orders aroused new difficulties within her own 
ranks. She was forced to suppress the excesses of the 
''Flagellants'' who walked in procession through the 
towns, scourging themselves in the streets, naked to the 
waist; there were the " apostles," vagabonds whose leader, 
a Franciscan driven from his convent, claimed to be the 
son of God; also the " men of the woods " who, in the 
garb of Saint Francis, begged in bands in the forests and 
along the highways, leaving nothing to be gleaned after 
they had passed; and " the men with bags," who carried 
on less boldly their scandalous trade of begging. 

12. The Jews. — Outside the ranks of the Church, the 
refractory elements, hostile or persecuted, had to be met 
and counted with, such as the schismatic Greeks and the 
Jews. The first had nothing to fear, but the Jews were 
hated by the Christians, who related, concerning them, 
fables as dangerous as they were absurd. Were they not 
accused of sacrificing Christian infants at the feast of 
the passover? An archbishop of Armenia seriously told 
the monks of Saint Alban that, in his land, a Jew was 
still living who had been present at our Lord's passion, 
and that he had even struck him with his fist to hasten 
his steps to the place of sacrifice. " Go, Jesus, go more 
quickly! " he said to him jeeringly; and Jesus, looking 
at him severely, had answered: "I am going, and thou, 
thou shalt wait until I return! " Since that time the 
Jew had been waiting, and is still doing so. 'Later he 
was called the Wandering Jew, and in the seventeenth 
century he was named Ahasuerus. 

13. The Predominance of the Church Endangered by 
Lay 'Authority. — It was a far call from the time when 
Christian society had been silently enlisted under the 
standard of Saint Peter and the ecclesiastical yoke had 



614 THE CHURCH AND HERESIES. 

been everywhere accepted. The period during which the 
Roman Church was at the summit of her temporal power 
was also the time when the royal power, object of a lay- 
religion, was organised and fortified in all parts; the cen- 
tury of Innocent III. was also that of Saint Louis, the 
grandfather of Philip the Fair. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION — INSTRUCTION AND 
SCIENCES — LITERATURE AND ARTS — WORSHIP.* 

1. Instruction. The Seven Liberal Arts. — Teaching was 
was at first confined to monasteries and chapters of cathe- 
dral churches. Charlemagne had made it respected, and 
since his time its development had continued. The 
Church, which had the monoply of it, used all her power 
in its favour. The method followed in schools was that 
which the dying classic world had bequeathed to the 
Middle Ages. The three arts of grammar, rhetoric, and 
dialectics (the trivium) were taught first, then the four 
sciences of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music 
(the quadrivium). Then it was that the young man ap- 
proached the higher studies of theology, law, philosophy, 
or medicine. Dating from the eleventh century, medi- 
cine was taught, especially at Salerno in Italy and at 
Montpellier in France. Law, and primarily Roman law, 
such as it had just been revealed in the manuscripts of 
the legal works oi Justinian, was eagerly pursued in the 
schools of Bologna. France was the true mother country 
of the philosophy known as " scholastic." 

* Literature.— Rashdall, "The Universities of Europe in the 
Middle Ages"; Denifle, "Die Entstehung der Universitaten des 
Mittelalters"; Denifle et Chatelain, " Cartulaire de I'Universite de 
Paris "; Fournier, " Statuts et Privileges des Universites FranQaises "; 
G. Paris, " La Litterature Franpaise au Moyen Age "; Moore, " The 
Development and Character of Gothic Architecture." 

515 



516 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

2. Scholastic Philosophy. — This philosophy was not 
original. It proceeded direct from Plato and Aristotle, 
but it scarcel}^ knew their books and only imperfectly 
their theories. In fact, few, even among the most learned 
in the Middle Ages, were competent, not only to under- 
stand, but even read Greek; besides, there were but a few 
writings of Aristotle and Plato translated or analysed 
in the sixth century of our era by Boethius. But this 
little evoked, about the origin of ideas and beings, serious 
problems which the two Greek philosophers had solved 
differently. Therefore the scholastics were soon grouped 
into two hostile camps: the partisans of Plato, or 
" Eealists," and those of Aristotle, or " Nominalists." 
Both parties, however, elucidated their doctrines in the 
same way. They would take a sentence from their 
favourite master, and attempt, by discussing with their 
auditors, to deduce from it its logical conclusions. In 
this way dialectics, or the art of reasoning, whose laws 
had been outlined by Aristotle, was peculiarly esteemed in 
the schools. 

3. Beginnings of Scholastic Philosophy. — The first 
schoolmen were the Anglo-Saxon, Alcuin, and the Irish- 
man. John Scotus Erigena, who taught in the palace 
schools under Charles the Bald, and whose science was 
held, in the ninth century, to be marvellous. After him 
the most illustrious were Frenchmen. We will only men- 
tion Gerbert, who became Pope Sylvester II. The 
scholastics were the lights of the Church, but soon the 
Church was startled by the boldness of their thoughts 
and the freedom of their writing, and persecuted them. 
Berengar, a pupil, and then a brilliant professor at the 
school of Tours, was condemned for offensive propositions 
about the Eucharist (1050). Koscelin, canon of Besan- 
^on, dared to explain by philosophical reasoning the 



ABELARB, 1079-1142. 517 

mysteries of the Trinity; he was condemned hy a council 
and abjured, after having escaped being massacred by the 
populace (1094). Men were by that time warned that in 
matters of faith they must believe, not reason. But has 
not reason rights in the eyes of authority? Thus ques- 
tioned Abelard. 

4. Abelard, 1079-1142. — Peter Abelard was born in 
1079, at Pallet, near Saint Nazaire, in the county of 
Nantes. His parents were noble. He was the oldest of 
the family and consequently destined to be a warrior; 
however, his father wished him to be taught. The yoiing 
man profited so readily by his studies that he sacrificed, 
as he said. Mars to Minerva, and he devoted his life to 
science. In Paris he followed the teaching of William of 
Champeaux, the canon of the cathedral. He bore an 
active part in the discussions directed by the professor, 
but met his doctrines with such exact and eloquent logic 
that he forced him to acknowledge himself beaten. He 
became a master in his turn, without a diploma (in those 
days one was not required), and opened a school a rival 
to that of the cloister of Notre Dame, on the property of 
the exempted Abbey of Saint Genevieve. Later, after 
the tragic ending of his love with the learned and noble 
Heloise, he became a monk and took up teaching with 
brilliant success. Soon he gathered about him thousands 
of disciples; his books passed " from nation to nation, 
from kingdom to kingdom.^' But his success brought 
him many enemies, and his ideas ruined him. Abelard 
had the boldness to claim that in truths which are within 
the domain of reason, it was useless to have recourse to 
faith; even in theology he would have faith elucidated 
and strengthened by reason. This was the very spirit of 
freedom of thought, which had many centuries to wait 
before its rights should be conceded. 



518 CHRISTIAN' AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 



^ 



5. Saint Bernard. Abelard Condemned. — Thereupon; 
he was attacked. No one showed in this straggle firmer 
and more far-sighted determination than Saint Bernard. 
He also was of noble race. The third son of a Burgun- 
dian knight, weak in body, and sickly, he withdrew 
from the world when he was twenty-two (1113). As a 
monk at Citeaux, it was not long before he was noted 
for his ardent piety, science, and energy. He was ordered 
to take a colony of Cistercian monks to the upper valley 
of the Anbe (1114) and there founded the celebrated 
Abbey of Clairvaux, of which he was the first abbot. 
The rule was austere and penetrated into Sweden and 
Denmark. However, he never confined himself to mo- 
nastic life, and was constantly busied with worldly inter- 
ests; it was he who promoted the second crusade. His 
opinions were the same as those of Gregory VII. concern- 
ing the Papacy and the relationship between the temporal 
and spiritual powers. As a determined advocate of 
orthodoxy, in his opinion there was no answer to be made 
to arguers, other than to show them the word of the 
Fathers condemning their doctrines. He therefore stood 
for the principle of authority; to the doubts of reason, 
which seeks truth, he opposed faith, which solves all 
difficulties in the name of authority. The head of the 
philosophical school had already been questioned about 
a treatise published on the Trinity in 1122. Another 
called, " Yes and No " {8ic et Non), in which he showed 
that even in dogma the opinion of the Fathers had varied, 
was laid before the council of Sens (1141). Abelard 
undertook to prove to the assembled bishops that his 
ideas were not inimical to Church doctrines. Saint Ber- 
nard anticipated him. First he held a special meeting in 
which his eloquence prejudiced minds against Abelard; 
then, the day of the solemn sitting, instead of allowing his 



ORTHODOX PHILOSOPHY, 519 

adversary to speak, he crushed him under the weight of 
quotations drawn from the books of the Fathers, which 
contradicted Abelard's doctrines. 

6. Abelard's Death, 1142. — Condemned before being 
heard, Abelard appealed from the council to the Pope, 
and started towards Eome to plead for himself his cause 
before the Holy See; but the emotions of the struggle 
had shattered his health. He stopped on the way at the 
Monastery of Cluny, whose abbot, Peter de Montboissier, 
called the Venerable, received him with the consideration 
due to his genius and misfortune. There he soon passed 
away (April 21, 1142), a touching example to the monks 
in the simplicity of his life. " So was this man in our 
midst," wrote the Abbot of Cluny to Heloise, " simple 
and upright, fearing the Lord, and turning from 
evil. . 1 . As is related of Saint Gregory the Great, he 
let no moment slip by without praying, reading, writing, 
or dictating. It was while performing these pious acts 
that the heavenly messenger found him." 

7. Orthodox Philosophy. Peter Lombard. — ^In the mean- 
time the conflicts between theologians and philosophers 
compromised philosophy. William of Champeaux, re- 
signing his chair in the cloister of Notre Dame, went 
forth to teach, in the school of Saint Victor, a disregard 
for this science which had brought him only mortification. 
Hugh of Ypres, his disciple (1133-1143), attempted to 
prove that the reason of man, thrown back upon itself, 
is powerless to attain truth; grace, and grace alone, that 
is, the arbitrary will of God, will lead one to it. Thus it 
was that dialectics which, under the inspiration of free 
reason, had stirred up such deep problems in the first 
half of the century, fell into disrepute in the second half. 
Peter the Lombard (1158-1160) made a collection of the 
most irrefutable statements pronounced by the Fathers 



620 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

concerning the nature and attributes of God, the creation, 
the incarnation^ and the sacraments. The " Master of 
the Sentences/' as he was called, believed he could ia 
this way rid theology of all useless and dangerous ques- 
tions. His book had great success during the entire 
Middle Ages, and beyond, but it failed to allay religious 
disputes. Yet for a time the Church seemed pacified. 

Two momentous events occurred in the thirteenth 
century: the foundation of the University of Paris and 
the introduction of the books of Aristotle into the 
schools. 

8. The TTniversity of Paris, 1200. — This originated in 
the cathedral school. From the earliest times students 
had flocked to Paris; they had come in greater numbers 
since Abelard's time, but they had never enjoyed especial 
privileges. In 1200 in a quarrel between some German 
students and townspeople, encouraged by the presence of 
the provost of Paris, five students were killed. The king 
had the provost and his officers arrested, and granted the 
scholars, henceforth forming a corporation (universitas)^ 
the privilege of exemption from municipal justice in 
criminal cases. Pope Innocent III. immediately confirmed 
this privilege; he even partly released students from 
superior supervision exercised by the chancellor of the 
chapter of Notre Dame (1213), who gradually lost his 
power over the corporation. In 1246 the University 
adopted a seal. In the meantime it had formed an 
organisation: the masters of arts had long been teaching 
on the Mount Saint Genevieve; they were divided into 
four corporations or nations, into which students were 
grouped according to their origin, France (He de France), 
Normandy, Picardy, and England. Each nation had its 
own seal; every month it selected its general head or 
rector, in turn^ the students in canon law or "Deere- 



THE FACULTY OF THEOLOGY. 521 

tists," doctors and theologians, acquired the right to 
teach outside of the city, and formed three other corpora- 
tions, each having its dean and seal. In all, this made 
four faculties. 

9. The Faculty of Arts. — The faculty of arts prepared 
for the three others. Studies were begun there before 
the age of fifteen, and logic was taught. Those who 
wished to fit themselves for teaching were required to 
undergo an examination called '' determination " and 
much later the baccalaureate, which the student took in 
public, once a year, in the Lenten season. If he passed, 
he went, when he was twenty-one, to claim from the 
chancellor of Notre Dame or of Sainte Genevieve his 
license or authorisation to teach; after 1213 the chan- 
cellor could not withhold it if six masters swore, with 
their hands on the Gospels, that the claimant was worthy 
to be given a license. Then the licentiate might become 
a master on condition of being received by his new col- 
leagues; then he must swear to observe all the regulations 
of the Faculty. All masters did not teach, nor during 
the entire time, for more than one followed the courses of 
the upper faculties, especially theology, while carrying 
on his teaching in the faculty of arts. When he con- 
ducted a course he was given the title of regent. Usually 
he taught in a black gown with a furred hood of the same 
hue. Most of the schools were situated in the rut 
du Fouarre (Straw Street). School furniture was very 
simple, for it was composed of a chair on a platform and 
a desk for the professor; the scholars were seated on the 
ground. Although they had few worldly goods, their 
gaiety was unfailing; the rue du Fouarre was the noisest 
in Paris, and nightly broils were frequent. 

10. The Faculty of Theology. — Theological studies cov- 
ered eight years; the baccalaureat was first taken after 



622 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 



1 



five years' study. Lessons might then be given on Holy 
Writ and the Book of Sentences of Peter Lombard. After 
three years of this apprenticeship, and providing he were 
thirty-five years old, a student might present himself to 
the chancellor of JSTotre Dame, to receive his license; and 
finally the licentiate had to be received by the corporation 
of masters, after having led a solemn discussion in the 
presence of the company. The long period of study, and 
the advanced age that a man must reach before being 
fitted to teach explains the small number of students who 
completed their studies and took their degrees, but this 
explains also the depth of the studies and the reputation 
which the faculty of theology at Paris enjoyed during 
the Middle Ages. Added to this, students were better 
guarded and more favoured. Most of them, in fact, lived 
in convents or colleges. 

11. Students in Theology. Convents and Colleges. — 
The two large mendicant orders of Franciscans and 
Dominicans intended, as has been seen, to teach religion 
by preaching, and direct souls by means of the confession. 
For this they needed trained theologians; teaching, for 
them, being a means to an end. In 1229 the Preaching 
Friars were authorised to establish, in their convent at 
Paris, a chair of theology; the Minors imitated them in 
1230, then the Premonstrants (1252), the Bernardins 
(1256), the Carmelites (1259), etc. The secular clergy, 
less closely organised, offered fewer resources and guaran- 
tees to theological students. However, from the twelfth 
century, hotels or colleges, similar to the charitable 
houses founded by pilgrims, received the poorest among 
them. 

12. The Sorbonne. — In 1257 a canon of Cambria, Eobert 
de Sorbon, friend of Joinville, and fellow soldier with 
Saint Louis, gave a house " situated in Paris, rue Coupe- 



UNIVERSITY OF PARIS AND ROYAL POWER. 523 

Guele, before the palace of the Therm.es," to lodge " poor 
masters studying theology." This was the college of 
Sorbonne. Eleven other similar colleges were founded 
in the course of the thirteenth century. Students lived 
there in common. As a rule there were in these colleges 
both students in arts and theological students. They 
were given weekly a sum of money for food, which was 
known as a purse, amounting to two sous parisis at the 
least and eight sous at the most; they had no claim on 
such a purse unless their fortune was less than a stated 
sum. They were required to be licensed in arts in order 
to receive a theologian's purse. If at the end of ten 
years they were not capable of directing a course, they 
must leave the house. 

13. The Faculties of Law and Medicine. — These two 
faculties never played anything but an unimportant part 
in the University of Paris. In law, Koman law was first 
taught with canon law; then the former was proscribed 
and nothing was studied except the Decretum of Gratian. 
Thus law was no longer anything but a branch of the fac- 
ulty of theology. Three years sufficed for the baccalau- 
reate, five years for the license. Those who wished to 
teach, after undergoing a possible examination, must be 
accepted by the corporation of doctors; for here they were 
doctors and no longer masters, as in the three other facul- 
ties. In order to be admitted to the doctor's degree, it was 
necessary that the aspirant give proof that he had art 
income of eight francs parisis. 

14. University of Paris and Royal Power. — Such was 
the inner organisation of the University of Paris, 
so celebrated during three centuries. It was a 
powerful body, because of the number of its students 
and its extended privileges. It abused them; the elective 
system tended easily to anarchy, and more than once the 



624 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

government was forced to interfere. In 1229 the students 
rose up in arms against the provost of Paris, who, in 
spite of the royal charter of 1200, was bold enough to 
attack, with his archers, the riotous fellows; several were 
killed or wounded. The University then suspended its 
teachings, and, unable to obtain justice from Blanche of 
Castile, disbanded. It was not reestablished until two 
years later, through the Pope's intervention, who obtained 
judicial satisfaction from the regent. 

However, the University of Paris did not have the 
monopoly of public instruction in France. Under Saint 
Louis there were flourishing schools at Bourges and 
Angers, a university at Toulouse, a law school at Orleans, 
and schools of law and medicine at Montpellier. The 
Church encouraged them, because they were of benefit 
to her. 

In other lands, the University of Bologna was of much 
earlier date than that of Paris; in England, Oxford was 
organised at the same time as Paris; Cambridge came 
soon after. At Naples, Frederick II. founded in 1234 a 
university for the Two Sicilies. But Paris was to hold 
in Europe, during a long period of time, the first rank, 
because of the number of its students and its brilliant 
teaching. 

15. Aristotle Revived. New Impetus to Scholastic 
Philosophy. — The preponderance given to the faculty of 
theology at Paris is due to the favour enjoyed again by 
scholastic philosophy, which during half a century had 
fallen into disrepute. The impetus came from Spain, 
where a celebrated school of philosophy was formed in 
the twelfth century, in which the works of Aristotle, 
entirely recovered, were especially studied. It was the 
school of Cordova, the country of the Mussulman Ibn 
Eoschd, otherwise Averroes, the learned commentator of 



LEARNED MEN OF THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 525 

the writings of the citizen of Stagira, and of the Jew, 
Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), his disciple, who at- 
tempted to reconcile Aristotle and the Bible. One of 
their contemporaries, Raymond, archbishop of Toledo 
from 1130 to 1150, had a Latin translation made of not 
only the works of these two philosophers, which had a 
marvellous success throughout the theological world of 
Europe, but also, and most important, of the original 
books of Aristotle. When all the great Greek philoso- 
pher's thought was given out, instead of the abstracts 
by Boethius or the endless commentaries by schoolmen, it 
was like a new light pouring in upon man's intelligence. 
Alain of Lille; Simon, canon of Tournai; Alexander 
Neckam, abbot of Cirencester (d. 1217), raised philosophy 
again to an honourable position. Another Englishman, 
Alexander of Hales, a Franciscan monk called the Irref- 
utable Doctor, and the Swabian Albert, of the counts of. 
Bollstaedt (1193-1280), who entered the Dominican order 
and was known as the Universal Doctor, or the Great, 
were the founders of orthodox Aristotelianism. They were 
surpassed by their disciples: Thomas of Aquinas (1227- 
1274), surnamed the Angelic Doctor, and John Fidenza^. 
better known as Bonaventura (1221-1274). The first was 
a preaching friar, the second a friar Minor; they were 
both canonised by the Church. The two important works 
of Saint Thomas, the " Summa Theologiae, " and the 
" Summa against the Gentiles," include in their able 
synthesis the entire Church doctrine in philosophical and 
theological questions. They have not been surpassed: 
after five centuries they are regarded with deserved 
favour by Catholic theologians. 

16. The Learned Men of the Thirteenth Century. — In a 
period so deeply imbued with orthodoxy and logic, litera- 
ture and the sciences could not fail to be saturated with 



526 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. __ 

the religious spirit. Naturally it inspired the preachers 
whose sermons have preserved for us, in the midst of 
pedantic quibbles, so many precious bits of information 
as to customs. It is found also in the writing of scien- 
tific men, for if the Middle Ages did not produce any 
science, they did develop real scientists. The names of 
Albert the Great, of the canon Vincent of Beauvais, who 
was preceptor to Saint Louis and who was able to con- 
dense into three treatises or " Mirrors " all the knowl- 
edge of his times, of Honorius of Antun, of the English- 
men Gervais of Tilbury, Eobert Grosseteste, bishop of 
Lincoln, and above all Eoger Bacon, all prove sufficiently 
that the thirteenth century was not an age of ignorance, 
and that the Church did honour to science. Th«se 
scientists admitted the spheroid form of the earth; they 
calculated with figures which are called incorrectly 
Arabic — they were invented by Gerbert (except the zero, 
which was thought of in the twelfth century); they knew 
the properties of the magnetic needle, which always turns 
to the pole star, and the use of the mariner's compass. 
The learned Roger Bacon, a Franciscan monk, knew the 
magnifying properties of convex lenses, the composition 
of powder, etc. Hoping to convert the Tartars, Saint 
Louis sent William of Euysbroeck or Rubruquis on a 
mission. He penetrated as far as Caracorum, the capital 
of the Great Khan (1253). The Italian Franciscan 
Planocarpini was sent by Innocent IV. to the Golden 
Horde (1245). These travels served geography more 
than religion; they opened the way to the celebrated 
Venetian Marco Polo. But however ingenious or pro- 
found they might be, the ideas acquired by students in 
the Middle Ages never formed a system based on calcula- 
tion, experience, or experiment; an exact method was 
lacking to make these speculations fruitful. There was 



CHANSONS BE GESTE, 527 

a variety of scientific literature, in verse and in prose, on 
the aspect of the world, the properties of bodies, on 
precious stones and their curative and marvellous powers, 
on medicine, hunting, and war. Writers went so far as 
to versify the Institutes of Justinian, the customary law 
of Normandy, the movable feasts of the Church, and the 
calendar. This was pure empiricism, a piece of wit, or 
nonsense. The teaching of the time taught men to 
reason, but originality was too often left undeveloped. 

Something of this intellectual dryness may be found in 
the literature, so varied and in part so original, of the 
Middle Ages. And again, as in theology and philosophy, 
France was the great initiator. 

17. The Literature of the North. The Epics of Chiv- 
alry. — In northern France, where feudalism was more 
deeply rooted, the chivalrous epic was cultivated most 
brilliantly. 

18. Chansons de Geste. The Subjects. — The epic poem 
came from the very heart of the people. The Germans 
had brought the taste for it with them; and on Roman 
soil, as they had sung of their barbarian heroes, so they 
sang the exploits of their victorious kings. Clovis and 
Dagobert were heroes of poems that have now disap- 
peared. The illustrious Carolingian family provided still 
greater subjects for the epic. Pippin the Short, Charle- 
magne, Charles the Bald (with whom the legend confuses 
Charles Martel), Louis, son and the grandson of the great 
emperor, were the centre of long epic tales in which 
appear also their principal councillors and captains: 
Roland, who died at Roncesvalles; Ogier the Dane, his in- 
separable companion; William, count of Toulouse, who 
fought brilliantly against the Saracens, who became a 
monk, after being one of the first in the court of Louis 
the Pious, and who died in the odour of sanctity. With 



528 CHBISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION, 

these persons, who really lived, are introduced characters 
that are doubtless imaginary, as Garin de Monglane and 
Doon of Mainz, heroes of feudal warfare. But, even 
though the personages are fictitious, the primitive epic 
reveals the ideas, sentiments, and passions of the time in 
which it was composed. " It is usually warlike; for war 
against the foreign foe is what fires men with a common 
enthusiasm and evokes a consciousness of their solidarity; 
in that lies its national type. It is so much the more 
typical, since neither its subject nor form is borrowed 
from abroad; it is the most direct and spontaneous crea- 
tion of the national genius." * Those who found, 
(trouve), created the epic themes, were the trouveres. 
Por a long time their tales were unwritten and remained 
anonymous, which accounts for so many of them being 
lost. They passed from mouth to mouth, recited and 
sung by the jongleurs, who did not hesitate to elaborate, 
as suited their fancy, on the primitive canvas. 

19. The Works. — Not until the second half of the 
eleventh century was there any attempt at writing them 
down. The oldest and one of the finest is the poem or 
^* Chanson de Geste de Eoland," which takes as its subject 
the disaster at Eoncesvalles. They sing of the wars under- 
taken by our kings against the enemies of the East, the 
Saxons of the North, the Normans of the South, the 
Saracens. These are the ones of most ancient origin, that 
were already constituted before the formation of feudal- 
ism. Next in order are those that relate either the 
struggle between the growing feudalism and the Carolin- 
gian monarchy: " Renaud de Montauban," the " Four 
Sons of Amion," " Girard de Eoussillon," " Huon de 
Bordeaux; " or the wars of the barons among themselves: 
*' Raoul de Cambrai," " Garin de Lorraine," etc. To the 

* Gaston Paris. 



DECADENCE OF CHIVALROXTS EPICS, 529 

twelfth century, properly speaking, belong those which 
refer to the crusades. This inexhaustible epic was mar- 
vellously successful. As the chan.sons de geste depicted 
the sentiments of feudal aristocracy, they were carried to 
all countries where feudalism was powerful: in England, 
where they were introduced by the Normans, and thence 
passed on into Norway and Iceland; in Germany, in Spain, 
and even in Italy, where they found a second home. 

20. The Classic Epic. — In this vein other rhymers, with 
a smattering of learning and eager to be known, related 
the more or less fabled tales of antiquity. The marvellous 
history of Alexander the Great was done into verse by 
Alberic de Besancon, the History of Troy, of ^neas, and 
doubtless of Thebes^ by a native of Touraine, Benoit de 
Sainte-More, etc. In these poems one mu-^t not look for 
a faithful portrayal of antiquity. Alexander with his 
captains was artlessly represented as a king of France or 
England in the midst of his barons. Thus the painters 
and sculptors who depicted the Roman soldiers placed as 
sentinels at the door of the Holy Sepulchre dressed them 
in the armour or coat of mail. The simplicity of these 
poems is the more interesting to us, since it is the picture 
of the feudal world that we find in them; the plot being 
taken from classic sources, but coloured with the life of 
the Middle Ages. 

21. Decadence of Chivalrous Epics. — The decadence of 
epic poetry is contemporary with that of lay feudalism, 
in the thirteenth century. Since their charm continued, 
the old chansons de geste were repeatedly done over, but 
the tale was lengthened without being improved. Under 
the facile pen of Adam, " the king of minstrels," the 
*^ Chanson de Roland/^ which at first contained four 
thousand lines, was lengthened to twenty thousand, but 
they were only just so many words more. 



530 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

22. Prose Tales. Arthur and the Round Tabl«. — There 
was also the prose epic. Originally this had for its foun- 
dation old British tales which had survived the Anglo- 
Saxon conquest and still lived on the lips of Welsh bards. 
A Welsh priest, Geoffrey of Monmouth, who died bishop 
of Saint Asaph in 1154, introduced several of them into 
his fabulous history of the British kings. This was soon 
translated into French by the Jerseyman Wace, who 
added much to his model (1155). He conceived the 
famous Eound Table, at which sat, in perfect equality, 
the chosen knights of king Arthur. With Arthur ap- 
pears Tristan, prince of Leon in southern Wales, famous as 
the first among warriors, hunters, and harpers — Tristan, 
who through magic potion is bound in an enduring and 
unhappy passion to Iseult, niece of the queen of Ireland. 
Launcelot also, the type of a perfect knight, and Perceval, 
who passed his adventurous life in search of the Holy 
Grail, in which, it is said, Joseph of Arimathea received 
the blood which flowed from the wounds of our crucified 
Lord. The stories of Arthur, Launcelot, Tristan, and 
Perceval were originally detached. A poet of Cham- 
pagne, Christian of Troyes, the best writer in verse of 
the twelfth century, collected them into one tale in verse. 
In this new form they were highly successful. Chris- 
tian devotes much space to a brilliant description of the 
palaces, festivities, ornaments, and arms; he surrounds 
the women with a halo of respect which the Middle Ages 
until then had rarely shown; he describes chivalrous love, 
incompatible with marriage indeed, but ennobling those 
who experienced it. 

23. The Literature of the South. Lyric Poetry. — In 
this conception of life and love, so different from that re- 
vealed in the chansons de geste, the influence of the south 
is felt. There, at least as early as the eleventh century. 



THE TROUBADOURS. 531 

an original form of literature blossomed. In the valleys 
of the Garonne and the Rhone feudalism was less strongly 
developed than in the North. Classes of society were less 
fixed and the barbarian element less powerful. Two vast 
states had been early formed, that of the dukes of Aqui- 
taine and counts of Poitiers, and that of the counts of 
Toulouse of the house of Saint Giles. The country had 
not been wasted by anarchy as in the north. Under these 
favourable circumstances, riches and comfort were found 
in cities and castles. Women held an honoured position; 
under their influence manners were softened and passions 
refined. The condition of society was naturally reflected 
in poetry; it is mostly addressed to women and discourses 
of love. It was not an echo of popular tales, it was not 
anonymous. Affected by men who were proud of their 
wit, it was clever, studied, often intentionally obscure, 
and always mindful of literary form. 

24. The Troubadours. — Professional poets were not 
alone inspired, for in the foremost rank of the trouba- 
dours appear knights, noble seigniors, and priests. Side by 
side with men of the lower class, such as Marcabrun, a 
foundling; Bernard, son of a serf, a baker in the castle of 
Yentadour; Giraut de Borneil, born of poor parents, 
whom he devoutly succoured; Peter of Auvergne, a plain 
citizen's son, there are others who belong to political his- 
tory. These are William IX., duke of Aquitaine; Eble 
III., viscount of Ventadour; Jaufre Eudel, lord of Blaye, 
who was enamoured of a countess of Tripoli without hav- 
ing seen her, and set out on a crusade so as to reach her, 
dying in her arms; and Rhaimbaut, lord of Orange and 
Courtheson, who was beloved of the countess of Die, also 
known for her love poems, and Bertrand de Born, lord of 
Hautefort, who fought against Henry II. of England 
under the command of his son, the young Henry, and. 



532 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 



1 



fallen into the father's hands, owed his life to the fair 
verses in which he deplored the premature death of the 
son. There was also a gentleman of Auvergne who, al- 
though a monk in the Abbey of Aurillac and prior of 
Montaudon, lived in the world for all that, petted by 
kings and nobles. Folquet of Marseilles, son of a Genoese 
merchant, was not so lax in his mode of life. Having 
been loaded with honours by Eichard the Lion-Hearted 
and the count of Toulouse, having loved a daughter of 
Manuel Comnenus, wife of William VII. of Montpelier, 
he took holy orders at Citeaux and was later elected 
bishop of Toulouse (1205). His regret for his early life 
was unceasing, and when he heard some song of his which 
he had once composed, he would mortify himself that day 
by living on bread and water. Folquet was an exception, 
for among the troubadours faith was lukewarm, and this 
is one other distinguishing feature between them and the 
trouveres of the north, their colleagues and contempo- 
raries. 

25. Gallantry (Courtoisie). — This spirit of indifference, 
which, has already been noted among those who tolerated 
the heresy of the Albigenses, this refinement of manners, 
appreciation of wit, and stilted verse had developed in 
the south a peculiar form of politeness called courtoisie. 
It reached the feudal courts of the north through the in- 
fluence of several noble ladies, at a time when women 
were just beginning to play an important political role. 
In the twelfth century, indeed, some possessed kingdoms 
or vast fiefs, a fact which seems incompatible with the 
military character of feudalism. Was it not the time 
when the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I., wore the 
royal crown of England, and Eleanor, granddaughter of 
the troubadour William IX., the ducal crown of Aqui- 
taine? Eleanor, in turn wife of the kings of France and 



MIDDLE-CLASS POETRY. 533 

England, contributed more than any other to the cultiva- 
tion in the north of a taste for southern civilisation. A 
daughter of her first husband, Marie, who married Henry 
I., the Liberal, count of Champagne, was, like her, pas- 
sionately fond of gallantry; she patronised Christian of 
Troyes, and even provided him with the theme for one of 
his poems, " Launcelot, or the Tale of the Cart/' An- 
other daughter, born of the second marriage, Matilda, 
married Henry the Lion, and imported into Germany the 
taste for poetry and courtly ways. Her son, Richard the 
Lion-Hearted, composed the verses and music of love 
songs. And lastly, were not these noble dames, learned 
in points of gallantry, known to hold consultations in the 
casuistry of love? Several of their judgments were kept, 
and a worthy chaplain about 1220 compiled from them 
" The Art of Loving according to the Laws of Honour." 
26. Middle-Class Poetry. The Fabliaux, Renard the 
Fox. — As has been seen, the thirteenth century was 
marked by the definite emancipation of the citizen class. 
The middle class of that time had a corresponding literary 
form in which to express itself, and if it were not new it 
was at least animated with a new spirit. This was shown 
in the fables, and especially in the fabliaux. They were sa- 
tires, sometimes moral, more often irreverent or licen- 
tious, directed against nobles, priests of immoral lives, evil 
women, and deceived husbands, ^sop employs animals, 
in his fables, to which he attributes the passions of men; 
this plan was imitated in the twelfth century. It sug- 
gested the idea of inventing tales in which animals still 
figure^ but where little attention is paid to the moral. 
Their adventures conform to the characters attributed to 
them; for instance, the wolf struggles with the fox, a 
strife in which brute force is mastered by cunning. 
Laughter, not moralising, was what was wanted. As time 



534 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

goes on the character becomes more defined: the wolf was 
Isengrin, and the fox Renard; each had his wife, Richeut 
and Hersent. With these important parts were person- 
ages of less distinction: Noble, the lion; Grimbert, the 
badger, Eenard's cousin; Chanteclair, the cock; Couard, 
the hare; Tibert, the cat; Bernard, the donkey, mali- 
ciously presented in the garb of an archjiriest. Towards 
the end of the twelfth century the episodes concerning 
these characters were woven into one connected story of 
Isengrin and Eenard. Thus the " Romance of Renard " 
was evolved. This plebeian epic marks the bourgeois's 
entrance into literature. 

27. The Romance of the Eose. — " The Romance of the 
Rose," composed about 1237 by a young poet of twenty- 
five, William of Lorris, was written for society of the time 
of the regent Blanche of Castile. It is an ingenious and 
delicate piece of wit, in which the author relates, in | 
allegorical form, the aspirations of a young lover and 
the obstacles which prevent him from plucking the rose, 
or reaching the young girl who has caught his fancy. 
He becomes the vassal of Love; he is well received by 
Welcome, but his enemies are Danger, Backbiting, Shame, 
and Fear, etc. William left the poem uncompleted, and j 
it was taken up and continued, forty years later, by John 
Clopinel, of Meung-sur-Loire. But the characters of 
the primitive work were entirely transformed; the senti- 
ments were coarse, and the speech was cynical. He was 
speaking to a different audience, to the corrupt contempo- 
raries of Philip the Fair. 

28. History. Villehardouin, Joinville. — With history 
we come back to real life. Down to the thirteenth cen- 
tury it had been almost exclusively written by priests, 
especially by monks, and in the Latin tongue. 'After the 
crusades it grew worldly, so to speak. The Latia chron- 



II 



THE GREAT CHRONICLES OF FRANCE. 635 

icles were kept up in the monasteries until the end of 
the Middle Ages, but there appeared works in French, 
either prose or verse, in great part related by witnesses of 
the events. We have no work of this kind describing the 
first two crusades except the fragment of a versified ac- 
count of the siege of Antioch (1098), written in Proven- 
cal. There is about the third crusade a poem of twelve 
thousand lines of eight syllables, composed by one Am- 
broise, jongleur in the army of Richard the Lion-Hearted. 
The fourth crusade was recorded by Geoffrey de Ville- 
hardouin, marshal of Champagne (1160-1213), in an accu- 
rate, straightforward, and virile style which was a model 
for French prose, as the " Chanson de Roland " was for 
epic poetry. And likewise the most graphic accounts of 
the seventh crusade have been given us by an actor in this 
disastrous expedition. Joinville, seneschal of Champagne 
(1224-1317), accompanied thither Saint Louis, of whom 
he became the inseparable companion. He had already 
written the principal events, when at the urgent request 
of Jeanne of Champagne, the wife of Philip the Fair, he 
undertook a history of the sainted king. He was then 
eighty, but he had kept a vivid memory of the events 
which stamps his work with the freshness of youth. He 
dictated at random, however, taking up his account at 
different times, so that there is no order, and the end bears 
the marks of age. This brave and worthy knight was as 
simple-hearted as a child. 

29. The Great Chronicles of France. — Lastly the kings, 
dating from Louis VL, had their regular historians. 
These were the monks of Saint Denis. The abbey which 
kept the oriflamme wrote the official history of our sov- 
ereigns. Suger for Louis VI. and Louis VII., Rigord 
and William the Breton for Philip Augustus and Louis 
VIL, AYilliam de Nangis for Louis IX. and his son, com- 



536 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

piled some important works in Latin. Then the transla- 
tion into French of the original chronicles was begun, and 
there was formed a kind of collection of the Great 
Chronicles of France, which for two centuries were always 
well received, and hence, are another instance of the 
progress of ideas in the French monarchy. 

30. Arts. — This progress stands out more prominently, 
if from literary works we pass to works of art. The 
highest art of the Middle Ages was expressed in the build- 
ing and ornamenting of churches. This was natural and 
a necessary consequence of a period of such ardent faith, 
with a clergy so rich and powerful. But in this building 
there were three periods, characterised by the expressions 
Eoman, Romanesque, and Gothic. 

31. The Roman Basilica. — First adopted was the plan 
of the Roman churches built on the model of the munici- 
pal basilicas in which the supreme magistrate dispensed 
justice. The most usual form was a rectangle, one of the 
shorter sides being modified to a half circle. In this half 
circle or apse, which projected, were placed the bishop's 
throne and the altar. The remainder of the church was 
divided into three sections, parallel with the apse: the 
middle section or nave, and the two aisles. The nave was 
separated from the aisles by a series of columns which 
supported a wall in which were windows or bays, admit- 
ting light to a gallery in the second story. The nave, 
often very wide, was covered by a roof of open rafters. 
This framework had an advantage as to weight, and, be- 
cause of the width of the nave, allowed space and light, 
but its construction demanded skilful workmen, who were 
becoming more and more rare; moreover, it caught fire 
easily, which was a serious objection in a period of con- 
stant invasions. During the Norman invasions most of 
the churches were consumed by fire. 



THE ROMANESQUE CHURCHES. 537 

32. The Romanesque Churches. — When this danger was 
passed, there was an attempt made to build more sub- 
stantially. Bricks were discarded, so much used by the 
Eomans, and stone was used, which was very plentiful in 
central and northern France, so that Raoul Glaber said^ 
about the year 1000, that the earth wore a " white gar- 
ment of churches." Another innovation was the stone 
vaulting which replaced the wooden roof. Architects 
then used in succession, or at the same period, the cylin- 
drical vault springing from the two opposite walls, also- 
called the barrel vault; the groined vault resting on four 
piers or pillars, and the domical or hemispherical vault- 
ing over a circular area, like those of the Pantheon at 
Rome, Saint Sophia in Constantinople, or Saint Mark's 
in Venice. In this style, called Romanesque, architects 
had to take into account two factors: the weight of this 
stone covering, wdiich was sometimes carried to a great 
height, and the thrust of the arches, which bore obliquely 
on the walls and pillars and tended to throw them out of 
the perpendicular. For a long time they knew no other 
way to meet the difficulty than by increasing the thick- 
ness of the walls and piers, or later, strengthening the 
groinings by stone ribs springing diagonally from one 
pillar to another and intersecting at the apex of the 
vault; this was the pointed arch, ogive. The style was 
first used in Benedictine churches. The Abbaye aux 
Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames at Caen, built by 
William the Conqueror and his wife Mathilda to expiate 
the sin they had committed in marrying, although cousins^ 
may be considered as perfect examples of this archi- 
tecture. Saint Sernin of Toulouse, constructed entirely 
of brick, is also a good example of Romanesque in the 
south. When well built these churches have a powerful, 
massive effect, a distinctive mark of Romanesque archi- 



638 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

iecture, which is noticeable also in private buildings. 
However, their characteristics varied according to the 
regions; the differences of Eomanesque styles correspond- 
ing to the divisions of feudal France. 

33. The Gothic Church. — About the reign of Louis YII. 
some architects were inspired with the idea of support- 
ing the outer pillars, where the thrust of the pointed arch 
came, by means of stone arches, which in their turn rested 
on solid piers projecting beyond the walls of the aisles. 
These abutting pillars and arched buttresses allowed for 
a diminution in the thickness of the walls and the in- 
terior columns, which were then relieved of all weight ex- 
cept the vertical pressure from the roof. At the same 
time, the use of the pointed arch became general and the 
place of the rounded openings or round arch of the Eo- 
mans was taken by openings bearing the pointed arch, 
now incorrectly named ogival. This style, wrongly 
called Gothic, brought about a revolution in ecclesiastical 
architecture. It became possible to raise the arches to 
an unheard-of height, increase the width of the naves, 
introduce large windows, and, though but for a short 
time, roomy galleries in the second floor, well lighted, as 
in Notre Dame at Paris. If one's reason is startled by 
the exterior, with its series of arched buttresses support- 
ing walls too light to stand alone, the interior commands 
one's admiration because of the elegance of the clustered 
pillars supporting and lending height to the arches, the 
windows and the vaulting, the pleasing variety of reliefs, 
and the sublime vastness of the nave. The Gothic church 
is the expression of the religious ideal of the Middle Ages; 
it is, as it were, a prayer, a siirsum corda, materialised and 
apparently imperishable. 

34. Variety in Unity of Gothic Architecture. — This 
style arose in central or Capetian France; it lent itself 



THE DEGOBATION OF CHURCHES. 539 

to the construction of the most beautiful cathedrals in 
honour of the Virgin — Notre Dame of Paris, Rheims, 
Chartres, and Amiens, etc. It offered but one type, so to 
speak, varying according to periods, not localities. The 
primitive or early Gothic corresponds to the reign of 
Philip Augustus; in Saint Louis's time the flamboyant 
Gothic was brilliantly exemplified in the Sainte Chapelle. 
The celebrated architect, Villard de Honnecourt, a pupil 
of the Cistercian monks, whose works he went as far as 
Hungary to study (1235-1250), developed the theory of 
this art which reached its zenith. However, architects' 
names are rarely known in the Middle Ages. As the 
chansons de geste were gradually formed by a succession 
of unknown trouveres, so were our superb cathedrals built 
by bodies of workmen who are still unrecognised. It 
seemed to be a spontaneous and impersonal expression of 
the French genius. And finally, let us note, the uniform 
triumph of Gothic architecture was contemporaneous 
with two kings, founders of French unity. It completed 
harmoniously the period in which the Middle Ages 
reached their highest point. The rapid spread of the 
Gothic architecture abroad, considered with the fact of 
the dissemination of French literature, indicates the in- 
tellectual hegemony of France in the Middle xA.ges. 

35. The Decoration of Churches. — The artists were ad- 
mirably seconded by other artists even less known than 
they, if possible. These were sculptors, who cut figures 
of men, animals, and plants in the greatest profusion. 
As time advanced it is strange to see how much more 
elaborately they represented vegetation. The rudi- 
mentary boss of the time of Philip Augustus was elabo- 
rated with flowers and profuse foliage in the fourteenth 
century. The vault of the apse, which is semicircular in. 
form, the plain surfaces of the triumphal arch which di- 



540 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

:vides the nave from the transept where the high altar is 
placed, sometimes even the high walls of the nave, at first 
were decorated with mosaics, of which there are many 
remains, or of paintings in distemper, of which there are 
rare specimens still remaining. But when the walls of 
the nave were broken by large windows, the master work- 
men in stained glass closed the openings with vast stained- 
glass windows, whose rich and varied colours shed a joyful 
glow throughout the edifice, in perfect harmony with the 
triumphant spirit of Catholicism in the twelfth and thir- 
teenth centuries. There were morose spirits or rigorous 
theologians who thought that the Church w^nt too far. 
Saint Bernard, of one mind with the austere monks of 
Cluny, condemned the immense height of the churches, 
^^ their extreme length, the richness of the polished ma- 
terials, and paintings which attract the eye." He 
deplored the expense of these magnificent buildings, while 
so many human beings were destitute. The moderate 
spirits, like Suger, found in the beauty of the churches an 
additional reason to praise Cod. Suger was right, and the 
voice of reason was heeded. On the other hand, the gold- 
smiths and Vforkers in enamel vied with one another in 
decorating the objects used in church ceremonies: pyxes, 
altar tables, crosiers, monstrances, shrines, and reliquaries, 
€tc. So did the illuminators of liturgical books keep 
pace with the weavers, working at the most beautiful 
woollen stuffs or brocaded silks which were used in Church 
worship. 

36. Art as Applied to Worship. — Art as applied to wor- 
ship was both a picture of life and a lesson. On the 
fagades of the great churches, sculptors had carved the 
history of humanity and Christianity, from the fall of 
man to the last judgment. The allegorical figures of 
Tices and virtues were infinitely varied; they revelled in 



CHURCH FESTIVALS. 541 

strange, fantastic, grinning beasts, the terrifying and 
necessary retinue of the devil, the horned king, black and 
hairy, from hell, the enemy of the human race. Master 
workmen in mosaic dwelt rather on the creation and re- 
demption; painters of stained glass reproduced the most 
celebrated scenes of the Bible. The works of these 
artists, taken as a whole, made up a kind of " layman's 
Bible " that appealed to the eye and was understood 
by all. 

37. Church Festivals. — In addition to this were the 
Church festivals, in all their splendour and variety. The 
life of Christ appealed to the imagination of the faithful 
during the entire year. In December, when nature sleeps 
the sleep of winter, man awaits the arrival of our Lord; 
the four Sundays of Advent prepare him for the joys of 
His birth. That day {natalis dies, Noel), Christmas, is 
closely followed by the celebration of the Circumcision 
(January 1) and the Epiphan}', which recall the day when 
the shepherds and the magi, Gaspard, Melchior, and Bal- 
thazar, led by the star over their heads, come to the 
Child's manger (January 6). Then the time when the 
Lord was crucified draws near; as penance, one must re- 
frain from meats, beginning the fortieth day (quadra- 
gesima dies, Careme), Lent, before Easter. Palm Sun- 
day celebrates Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem; Good 
Friday, the day when He was crucified. Easter, when He 
arose from the dead, was the greatest festival of the year. 
By some intricate calculations the date fell irregularly 
from the 22d of March to the 25th of Aprd. The 
Annunciation (March 25) and the Ascension were cele- 
brated with unusual splendour. Christians were even 
undecided as to the beginning of the year, some pre- 
ferring Christmas, others, as in Capetian France, Easter. 
These were not all festivals. The Virgin, the mother 



542 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

of Christ, had her worship, which recalled the principal 
events of her earthly life; her birth, Nativity, September 
8; the Annunciation, the Purification, or Candlemas, Feb- 
ruary 2; the Assumption, August 15, and finally saints 
liad their worship and their shrines. 

38. The Worship of Saints. — At first no peculiar hom- 
age was paid except to martyrs. Then pious individuals 
T\^ho died in the odour of sanctity were accorded a like 
respect. They were known by the miracles they had per- 
formed while living, or which took place on their relics. 
Eelics were considered so precious that they were desired 
everywhere; every altar at which Mass was celebrated en- 
closed some kind of a relic; knights sometimes had bits 
of relics enclosed in their sword-hilts. The places con- 
taining those most revered were the object of eager pil- 
grimages. During the Norman invasions the objects 
"which the fugitive monks carried with them most care- 
fully were the bodies of their saints. Since the desire to 
possess them was so great, they were frequently stolen, 
and the theft was considered a pious fraud. Saints, 
looked upon as mediators between God and man, seemed 
to partake of the divine nature. Moreover, the good 
deeds performed by the saints were considered more 
than sufficient to earn them heaven. This excess of good 
deeds, still further increased by the infinite merit of 
Jesus, who had suffered, although without sin, made up 
a kind of reserve fund of which the Church believed itself 
empowered to dispose. The Pope drew upon this treas- 
ure to buy release for souls who were expiating the pains 
of purgatory. This was the practice of indulgence. 

39. Sacred Music* — Church services were celebrated 
w^ith as much display as was compatible with the revenues 

* The music of the Middle Ages was a continuation of that of 
antiquity, which theoretically had been preserved by Martianus 



THE ORIGIN OF THE THEATRE. 543 

of each church; they were regulated entirely by the 
clergy. The people were present merely as spectators 
and listeners. The singing was performed by a choir of 
priests. Several of the learned theologians composed 
Latin hymns which are still sung; the " Lauda Sion/' 
and " Pange lingua/' is due to Saint Thomas Aquinas^ 
and to the oldest biographer of Saint Francis, to Thomas, 
of Celano, the " Dies irse." 

40. Origin of the Theatre. — Out of the necessity of ap- 
pealing to the imagination of men there developed from 
religious festivals the preeminently profane art, the dra- 
matic art. The two great mysteries of the Incarnation 
and Eedemption were presented to the people's eyes at 
Christmas and Easter. The " mysteries," at first written 
by priests in Latin and presented in the churches, were 
afterwards played outside the churches, on rough theatres 
and in the vulgar tongue. At the same time with the 
mysteries grew the " miracle plays," from songs, in 
honour of saints, or from readings of the lives of the 

Capella (fourth century), Saint Augustine (fifth century), and Boetius 
(sixth century). The instruments remained of about the same char- 
acter as during the Greek and Roman periods. Long strides were 
made in musical art during the Middle Ages in two important points: 
(1) Notation. Tlie musical signs, first placed at unequal distances 
above the text, were finally placed on parallel lines, their numbers- 
varying arbitrarily from three to eleven; and on each stave the tone 
was indicated by Roman letters, invented by Boetius, which, dis- 
torted later more and more, became the modern clefs. The names 
designating the notes of the scales were given by Guy dArezzo 
(eleventh century), who took the first syllable of the first six verses 
of a hymn to Saint John (" si " was named much later). (2) While 
neither Romans nor Greeks seem to have known what we call 
harmony, that is to say, the chord of several different and simul- 
taneous sounds, its existence is ascertainable as early as the sixth 
century. Doubtless it came from a Germanic influence. This 
double advance opened the way to modern music. 



544 CHRISTIAN AND FEUDAL CIVILISATION. 

saints. Both were enacted by young men, and the patron 
saints of youth were the favourite subjects — Saint Nicho- 
las or Saint Catherine. Later the brotherhoods, or assem- 
blies, of the Virgin assumed the different roles in acting 
the miracles of Our Lady. The dramatic element was 
not lacking in these subjects, but it rarely found adequate 
■expression; yet there was enough talent to suit the coarse 
taste of the men of those times. 

41. Popular Parodies of Religions Feasts. — Piety was 
not universal in the Middle Ages, far from it, and just as 
sculptors did not hesitate to introduce into their compo- 
sitions creatures and scenes that were ridiculous, gro- 
tesque, or obscene, players sometimes turned religious 
iestivals even into scenes of license. At Christmas young 
<3lerks were freely allowed to parody the rites of worship 
and sing disrespectful hymns. It grew into the FUe, des 
Fous, which the Church was soon obliged to forbid. In 
England children, chosen by other comrades, were decked 
•out in episcopal robes and went about caricaturing the 
bishop. There were opportunities for amusement in this 
period which is painted in such sombre colours, and often 
they were abused. However, these were the exceptions. 
Por everyone, priests and laymen, the engrossing matter 
was to reach heaven, and the surest means was still to fol- 
low the Church's precepts, which assumed to control every 
moment of earthly life. Regenerated by baptism, kept in 
the path of duty by confession of sins, fortified in faith 
by communion, man was unwilling to quit this life unless 
the Church brought him the help necessary for the su- 
preme journey, the viaticum. From the cradle to the 
grave, both blessed by her, she took entire possession of 
man. 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 

Let us cast a glance backward over the nine centuries 
which have elapsed since the beginning of the great inva- 
sions. Four main facts stand out: (1) The slow, but in- 
evitable, destruction of the Roman Empire; (2) the estab- 
lishment of the feudal system; (3) the efforts made by 
Empire and Papacy to revive, for the individual benefit 
of each, classic unity; (4) the erection of separate govern- 
ments, and the formation of a Christian Europe which is 
developed under the moral hegemony of the Church. 

1. At the close of the fourth century the Roman Em- 
pire was still standing. It had embodied the legal con- 
ception that all inhabitants of the world subject to Rome 
form a body politic in which the political status and rights 
of the individual are fixed by law, in which security to 
individuals and property is guaranteed by a hierarchy of 
officials who are directed by a magistrate with a life ap- 
pointment and absolute power. This was the conception 
of the state, the imperishable creation of ancient Rome. 
The Mediterranean was the centre of the Roman world. 
Then came the barbarians, urged on by a kind of irresisti- 
ble attraction towards so rich an empire, which offered so 
many delights to them, so poor. Gradually they flowed 
in, by slow infiltration or sudden inundation, selling or 
imposing their services upon her. When there ceased to 
be an emperor in the West and the sole head of the Em- 
pire lived at the other end of the world, at Constantinople, 
the barbarian kings settled throughout the Empire were 

545 



546 GENERAL SUMMARY. 

in fact independent. The administrative machinery of 
the Eomans was, on the whole, maintained, but they dis- 
torted its organic form through a misapprehension of its 
nature. They considered the soil which they occupied as 
their personal property, and the functionaries as tools 
for their rapaciousness. The idea of statehood disap- 
peared. At the same time the equilibrium of the Medi- 
terranean world was destroyed by the overwhelming ad- 
vance of Islamism, which was taking possession of north- 
ern Africa entire and threatening the classic Grgeco- 
Latin civilisation on the Bosphorus and in the Pyrenees. 
Charlemagne attempted to restore some order in the 
political chaos of the West and stop the Arabian invasion; 
he was successful in so far that he left an imperishable 
memory in history, but the causes of disintegration were 
too deeply rooted to be swept away by a hand even as 
powerful as his. 

2. Feudalism then took shape. Individuals were no 
longer safe unless they placed themselves in the depend- 
ence of seignior, nor were lords, unless they assumed the 
obligations of vassalage. Eoyalty was powerless; political 
unity had disappeared; nothing remained but individual 
powers, often brutal and unbridled. It was the triumph 
of anarchy. These powers flung themselves upon one 
another in private wars, until they were finally drawn 
into the wild stream of the crusades, where they were 
speedily exhausted, or until, elsewhere, they were con- 
trolled and disciplined by the moral power of the Church 
and the material strength of royalty, that was slowly being 
reconstructed. The feudal system, moreover, while giv- 
ing vast scope to individual energies and heroic virtues, 
afforded men, in many petty states which were the out- 
come of this system, a security which no central power 
assured them longer; it also helped to reestablish order 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 547 

and prosperity and stimulate the revival of letters and 
arts. 

3. There was, however, in the midst of this coarse aris- 
tocracy one vital factor which stood for order and social 
improvement — the Christian Church. In the tenth cen- 
tury her power was dominant throughout Europe, except 
perhaps in the Scandinavian countries. She bore within 
her antagonistic elements, which were fruitful before they 
became dangerous to the Church herself. She preached 
a religion of universal charity and love towards all men; 
she was therefore the enemy of hereditary differences of 
rank, which were based on violence. On the other hand, 
she had retained the hierarchical organisation, naturally 
assumed when she entered, secretly or legally, the Roman 
administrative body; in this respect, she was the direct 
heir of the former Empire, and could conceive of no other 
remedy for the evils of society than in the erection of a 
centralised power. This is why she received Clovis (496), 
consecrated Pippin (754), restored the imperial dignity 
in the West in favour of Charlemagne (800), and then of 
Otto the Great (961). The Roman emperors of Germanic 
race wished then to rule with the powers defined in the 
rediscovered Justinian law. At first the Ottos succeeded. 
Afterwards, under the sway of certain theological ideas, 
much in favour, ecpecially at Cluny and in the monasteries 
which had boldly undertaken the reform of ecclesiastical 
morals, the Papacy assumed the leading role in the gov- 
ernment of the Christian world. As a result the imperial 
and papal powers, until then harmonious because one 
was subordinate to the other, quarrelled because each one 
aspired to universal monarchy. Begun under Gregory 
VII., the war between the Empire and the Papacy ended 
in the thirteenth century by the triumph of Innocent III. 
and Innocent lY. over the Hohenstaufen. Germany and 



548 GENERAL SUMMARY. 

Italy were the principal scenes of action during this war; 
the two countries paid dearly in men and money, and still 
more so in losing the opportunity of becoming powerful 
and well-administered states. The Church's advantage 
was transient, for in Europe, in the meanwhile, great king- 
doms had grown up which would not endure the yoke of 
imperial monarchy nor pontifical theocracy, and which 
were then strong enough to command respect for their 
independence. 

4. In the thirteenth century, in truth, Europe was not 
merely a geographical expression; it offered already the 
appearance of an organised body. In the north there 
were the three Scandinavian kingdoms, constantly in 
touch with England and Germany, even sending crusaders 
to the Holy Land; to the east lay the still chaotic mass of 
peoples, Slavic, Eoumanian, and Hungarian, who were con- 
nected by their beliefs and form of worship with Eoman 
or Byzantine Christianity; on the south were the Greek 
Empire and the Spanish kingdoms, which were the van- 
guard of Europe, threatened by Islamism; in the centre 
there were four important peoples. On the one hand 
were Germany and Italy, where the ruin of the Empire 
had left a free field to feudalism; on the other hand, Eng- 
land and France, whose royalty, on the contrary, was 
pov/erfully armed and which maintained the closest rela- 
tions with each other. Eeligion was the one bond which 
united all these states. There was one Christian Europe 
with one single tongue, the Latin, and one single head, 
the Pope. Therein lay their point of union, which was 
entirely moral, and all the more powerful since it was 
recognised by general consent. Finally, social condi-^ 
tions were improved everywhere; the enfranchisement of 
individuals went on, of peasants in the country and of 
citizens in the towns. Humanity was moving forward. 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 549 

and far from the Middle Ages appearing to us as a period 
of decadence, ignorance, and barbarism, we admire in 
them, after the disorders caused by the invasions of the 
fifth and sixth centuries, and the disturbances of the ninth 
and tenth, a long and brilliant period of progress, revival, 
and bloom from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. 
Modern civilisation was being announced and prepared. 



INDEX. 



Abbassides, the, 159, 163 

Abelard, 306, 517-519 

Abu-Bekr, Caliph, 148 

Acre, capture of, 364 

Administrative system of Cape- 
tian France, 426-428; of Saxon 
England, 447; of Henry II., 
457; of England in XIII. cen- 
tury, 464; of Germany in XIII. 
century, 481 

^thelstan, 446 

Aetius, 45-49 

Africa, Vandal conquest, 44; 
Arab conquest, 154 

Agriculture in XIII. century, 
386 

Alaric, 39-44 

Albigenses, the, 413, 506 

Alcuin, 203, 516 

Alexander III., 311-314, 489 

Alexis I., 346, 353 

Alfonso X., the Wise, 479, 491 

Alfred the Great, 446 

Ali, Caliph, 152 

Andelot, treaty of, 81 

Angevin dynasty, 403-406, 454- 
464 

Anglo-Saxons, 125-127, 189 

Antioch in first crusade, 354 

Appanages, the, in France, 415, 
422 

Arabia, condition of in VII. cen- 
tury, 135-138; subdued by 
Mohammed, 143 

Arabian Empire and civilisation, 
148-165; science, 162; com- 
merce, 349 

Arabs, Charlemagne attacks, 185; 
attack Greek Empire, 339 

Aragon, treaty of France with, 
418 



Architecture, 485, 536-540 

Arianism, 108 

Aristotle, study of, 524 

Army, Roman, 12; early Ger- 
man, 28; Frankish, 90, 200; 
French, 437; Anglo-Saxon, 449 

Arnold of Brescia, 306-308 

Arnulf, Emperor, 224, 226, 230, 
235 

Arnulf of Metz, 169 

Arthur, King, and the Round 
Table, 530 

Arts, the seven liberal, 515 

Assassins, the, 164 

Assemblies, Roman provincial, 
7; early German, 24; Frank- 
ish, 87, 192-194 

Attila, 46-51 

Augustine, St., 44, 45, 123, 204 

Augustine, St., of Canterbury, 
129 

Avars, the, 181 



B 



Bacon, Roger, 526 
Bagdad, Caliphate of, 160, 189 
Becket, Thomas, 404, 455 
Bede, the Venerable, 131 
Belisarius, 103 
Benedict, St., of Nursia, 131 
Benedict, St., of Aniane, 199 
Benedictine Order, the, 500 
Bernard, St., 306, 307, 518 
Blanche of Castile, 413^15, 417 
Boethius, 59, 61 
Bohemia, 471 
Boniface, St.. 175-179 
Bouvines, battle of, 325, 411 
" Brothers of the Sword," 473 
Brunhilda, 77-83, 123 
Bulgarians, 337 
Burgundians, 64, 68 



551 



652 



INDEX. 



Burgundy, formation of kingdom 

of, 225 
Byzantine art and literature, 343- 

344; civilisation, 475 

C 

Canossa, 295 

Capetian (Robertian) dynasty, 
235; history in XI. and XII. 
centuries, 391-402; in XIII. 
century, 403-420 

Cardinals, college of, 289, 491 

Carolingian dynasty, 169-191; 
decadence of, 211-227, 240 

Cassiodorus, 59 

Castile, formation of kingdom of, 
476 

Cathari, the; see Albigenses. 

Celts, in Britain and Ireland, 124 

Chansons de geste, the, 527-529 

Charities, Freuch mediaeval, 439 

Charlemagne, 179-191, 311 

Charles the Bold, 214, 216, 221, 
224, 226, 234 

Charles the Fat, 223, 233 

Charles Martel, 159, 170-172 

Charles the Simple, 236 

Chivalry, 257-262; the Orders of, 
499 

Chosroes the Great, 105 

Christianity, 15-18 

Church, early organization of, 
15-17; Merovingian, 96; power 
of, in IX. century, 220; feudal- 
ism in, 262; schism of Greek 
and Latin, 345; serves the 
Capetian house, 399; in the 
XIII. century, 488-505 

Cid Campeador, the, 477, 479 

Cities; see Communes; govern- 
ment of Roman, 5; in Frank- 
ish state, 90; in XIII. century, 
331. 377-384, 429; in England, 
465; in Germany, 483 

Cistercian monks, 500 

Clair vaux, 500 

Clement IV , 489 

Clergy, secular and regular, 15- 
16; reform of Frankisli, 177; 
Carolingian, 198; Anglo-Nor- 
man, 452; secular, 494-497; 
regular, 498-504 



Clermont, council of, 351 
Clovis, 64-72 

Cluny, reform of, 287, 505 
Cuut, 446 
Coloni, the, 18-20 
Columba, St., 128 
Columban, St., 129 
Comitatus, the, 27 
Commerce, in XIII. century, 389 
Communes, the, 380-384, 465 
Comuenus, dynasty of, 346 
Conrad II., Emperor, 283 
Conrad TIL, Emperor, 302, 357 
Conrad IV., Emperor, 334 
Conradin, 334 
Constance, peace of, 315 
Constantine, donation of, 280 
Constantinople, Arabs attack, 

158; taken by the fourth 

crusade, 367 
Corpus juris canonici, 490 
Corpus juris civilis, 110 
Cortenuova, battle of, 329 
Councils, ecclesiastical, 494 
Count, the Frankish, 196 
Crescentius, 274, 279 
Crusades, the, 348-370, 417, 419 
Curia, Papal, 492 
Curiales, 18-20 
Czechs, the, 471 

D 

Dagobert I., 84 

Damiani, Peter, 287 

Danes, war with Franks, 185; 

invasion of England, 446 
Decretals, False, 221; papal, 490 
Diocese, organization of the» 

495-497 
Domesday Book, the, 451 
Dominic, St., 479,503 
Dukes, Frankish, 197 
Dunstan, St., 446 

E 

Ebroin, 169 

Edessa, taken by Turks, 357 
Edward the Confessor, 447, 449 
England, Anglo-Saxon, 125-127, 
445-449; and Charlemagne, 
189; Norman and Angevin, 
449-466 



INDEX. 



55a 



Egypt, conquered by the Arabs, 
151 

Eleanor of Aquitaine, 398, 401, 
402, 404, 456, 533 

Emperor, Roman, worship of, 2 

Empire, Eastern, in VI. century, 
99-114; from VIL to XI. cen- 
tury, 336-347; in XIII. cen- 
tury, 474-476 

Empire, Latin, of the East, 368- 
370 

Empire, Roman, extent and 
organisation, 1-13; Holy Ro- 
man, 486 

Empire, Western, fall of, 52; 
revived by Charlemagne, 187; 
revived by Otto I., 275 

Eudes, King of France. 224, 235 



Fabliaux, 533 

Fealty and homage, 251 

Feudalism, 208, 246-267, 377, 

423, 450, 480 
Fief, the, 247; organisation and 

revenues, 254-257 
Fontenoy, battle of, 216 
France, modern, in IX. century, 

226; feudal divisions of, 250; 

Capetian, 391-444 
Francis, St. , 502 
Franks, 64-85; institutions of, 

86-97; in VII. and VIII. cen- 

turies, 167-191; Carolingian 

institutions, 192-210 
Fredegonda, 78-83 
Frederick I., Emperor, 303-317, 

363 
Frederick II., Emperor, 321, 

325-335, 370, 417, 505 
Friars, the; see Mendicant Orders. 

G 

Gaul, administrative divisions 

of, 3; condition of, 8 
Gerbert; see Sylvester II. 
Germans, early, customs and 

government. 21-32 
Germany, early tribal divisions 

of, 35; modern, in X. and XI. 

centuries, 268-300; in XII. 

and XIII. centuries, 479-485 



Ghibellines, the; see Hohenstau- 
fen. 

Godfrey of Bouillon, 353, 355 

Gothic architecture, 538 

Greek Church, 345 

Greek Empire; see Eastern Em- 
pire. 

Gregory I., the Great, 121-124,. 
129 

Gregory VII. , 288-297, 399, 452 

Gregory IX., 329-331, 370, 490 

Gregory X., 489 

Gregory of Tours, 97 

Guelfs. the, 301-317, 321-335 

Guilds, 379 



H 



Hadrian IV., 307-311 
Hanseatic League, the, 483 
Harold, King of England, 447,. 

449 
Haroun-al-Raschid, 163. 189 
Hastings, battle of; see Senlac. 
Henry I., Emperor, 270 
Henry II., Emperor, 244, 281-283 
Henry III., Emperor, 284 
Henry IV., Emperor, 294-298 
Henry V., Emperor, 298, 398 
Henry VI., Emperor, 319-321, 

323, 365, 405 
Henry I., England. 397-399, 453. 
Henry II., England. 379, 402-405' 

454 
Henry III., England, 412, 416, 

418, 461-464 
Henry I. , France, 394, 396 
Henry the Lion, 303, 314, 319, 

321 
Herman de Salza, 328, 331, 371 
Hildebraud; see Gregory VIL 
Hincmar, 219-222, 267 
Hohenstaufen, the, 301-335 
Honorius, Emperor, 38, 40-42 
Honorius III., 326, 328, 502, 

503 
Hospitallers, Knights, 339 
Hugh Capet, 245, 391-394 
Hugh the Great, 241-243 
Hungarians, invasions in X. cenf 

tury, 230, 271, 272, 338 
Huns, the, 37, 46-51 



554 



INDEX, 



Iconoclastic controversy, 341 
Immunity, the, 96, 249 
Ingeborg, Queen of France, 406 
Innocent III.. 321-326, 329, 366, 

370, 406, 410, 487, 490, 491, 

494, 507, 509 
Innocent IV., 332. 417 
Inquisition, the, 512 
Investiture, feudal, 352 
Ireland, early inhabitants, 124; 

christianised, 128 
Irene, Empress, 181, 189 
Italy, in X. century, 273-275 



Jerusalem in first crusade, 354; 

kingdom of, 355, 358-362; 

taken by Saladin, 362 
Jews, the, in Middle Ages, 513 
Joachim, Abbot, 504 
John VIII., 220, 224 
John, King of England, 323, 

404, 408-412, 456-458, 460, 

491,493 
Joinville, 535 
Judicial system, Frankish, 91, 

199; in kingdom of Jerusalem, 

361; of Capetian France, 424- 

426, 430-434; of Angevin 

England, 464 
Justin I. , 100 
Justinian, 101-114 

K 

Knighthood, system of, 257-262 
Koran, the, 145 



Lanf ranc, 452 
Langton, Stephen, 459, 491 
Legates, Papal, 292 
Legislation, Frankish, 192-104 
Legnano, battle of, 313 
LeoL, 50, 52, 119 
Leo IV., 230 
Leo IX., 288, 289 
Leon, formation of kingdom of, 
476 



Literature, Roman, 14; Arabian, 
162; Charlemagne's revival of, 
203-205; Byzantine, 343; Ger- 
man, 483-485; of Northern 
France, 527-530; of Seuthem 
France, 530-534 

Lombard League, 312, 329 

Lombard, Peter, 519 

Lombards, 116-118, 122, 173, 179 

Lorraine, formation of kingdom 
of, 225 

Lothalre, Emperor, 213-219 

Lothaire II., Emperor, 302 

Lothalre, King of France, 243 

Louis II., 219 

Louis IV., 241-243 

Louis v., 244 

Louis VL, 376, 383, 396-401 

Louis VIL, 357, 376, 383, 398 
401-404, 457 

Louis VIIL. 412, 413, 415, 511 

Louis IX., 376, 383, 392, 404^ 
418-420, 422, 425, 428, 431- 
436, 462 

Louis the German, 213, 216-219 
226 

Louis the Pious, 211-215, 232 

Lyons, Council of, 332 



M 



Magna Carta, 412, 460 
Manfred, 335, 418 
Matilda, Countess, 295 
Matilda, Empress, 453 
Mayor of the Palace, Frankish, 

88, 169 
Mendicant Orders, the, 502-504 
Merovingian dynasty, 65-85, 

167-169 
Mersen, treaty of, 236; edict of, 

234 
Milan resists Frederick I., 30d- 

315 
Missi dominici, 197, 212, 428 
Mohammed, 138-145, 148 
Mohammedanism, 140, 145-147; 

spread of, 148-165, 476 
Monasticism, 498-505 
Mongol invasion, the, 474 
Montfort, Simon de. Earl of 

Leicester, 461-463 



INDEX, 



555 



Montfort, Simon de, senior, 508 
Municipalities; see Cities, Com- 
munes. 
Music, sacred, 543 

N 

Navarre, formation of king- 
dom of. 327, 476 

Nicholas I.. 233, 330, 345, 491 

Nicholas II., 389, 391 

Normandy, formation of duchy 
of, 339; in XI. century, 394; 
conquered by France, 409 

Normans, in southern Italy, 390- 
393, 397, 304, 339 

Norsemen, the, 331-333, 335- 
337, 446 



O 



Odoacer, 53-55 
Omraiades, the, 153-454, 159 
Ostrogoths, 36, 55-63, 103 
Otto 1., Emperor, 343, 371-377 
Otto II., Emperor, 344, 377 
Otto III., Emperor, 344, 378-381 
Otto IV., Emperor, 331, 333, 338, 

406, 410 
Ottocar I. of Bohemia, 471 
Oxford, Provisions of, 461 



Papacy, development of, 115, 
119-123, 173-176, 333; con- 
dition in X. century, 378; 
authority in the church, 488- 
490 

Papacy and Empire, 376, 384, 
386-300 

Paris, besieged by Norsemen, 
383; in XIII. century, 387, 429 

Paris, University of, 530-535 

Parliament, English, 461-464 

Pascal II., 399, 306 

Pataria, the, 390, 306 

Peace of God, 265 

Persia, in VI. century, 105; con- 
quered by the Arabs, 150; in- 
fluence on Arabs, 160 

Peter the Hermit, 350, 353 



Peter de Vinea, 331 

Philip I., 895 

Philip II., Augustus. 325, 363, 
365, 379, 383, 384, 404^13, 
433, 434, 436, 458 

Philip of Suabia, 331, 334, 406 

Photius, 345 

Pippin the Elder, 169 

Pippin of Heristal, 169 

Pippin the Short. 173-177 

Poictiers, battle of, 157 

Poland, 471 

Portugal, formation of, 476 

Praetorian prefect, the, 4 

Priests, parish, 497 

Provence, formation of king- 
dom of, 334 

Provinces, Roman, government 
of, 4 

Q 

Quadrivium, the, 515 
Quierzy-sur-Oise, edict of, 234 

R 

Radagaisus, 40 

Ravenna, Exarchate of, 118 

Raymond VI. , of Toulouse, 506- 

510 
Raymond VII., of Toulouse, 511 
Religion, early German, 30-32 
Renard the Fox, 533 
Revenue of Capetian France, 434; 

of the Papacy, 493 
Richard I., of England, 319, 320, 
323, 363, 365, 394, 404-406. 
408, 456-459 
Richard II., of England, 394 
Robert II., of Frauce, 393 
Robert Guiscard, 291, 297, 340 
Robert of Normandy, 453 
Robert the Strong, 232. 235 
Roland, Chanson de, 528, 529 
Rollo of Normandy, 237-239 
Roman law, Justinian's codifica- 
tion of, 110 
Romanesque architecture, 537 
Rome, taken by Visigoths, 42; 
by Vandals, 51, in" VI. cen- 
tury, 119; the Leonine city, 
230; in X. century, 274; in 
XII. century, 305 



^56 



INDEX. 



JRomulus Augustulus, 52 
Honcaglia, assembly of, 309 
Roncesvalles, 185 
Rose, Romance of the, 534 
Rudolf. King of France, 240 
Russians, in IX. and X. cen- 
turies. 338, 472; in XI. and 
XII centuries, 473 

S 

Saints, the worship of, 542 

Saladin, 362-365 

Saracen Empire and civilisation, 
148-165; invasions in X. cen- 
tury, 230; in Spain, 351 

Sassanides, kingdom of, 105, 150 

Saxons, conquest by Franks, 183 

Scandanavian States, the, 467 

Scholasticism, 516, 524 

Schools, Roman, 13; Charle- 
magne's, 203-205; mediaeval, 
515 

Science, Arabian, 162 

-Seljuks; see Turks. 

Senlac, battle of, 449 

Serfdom, 376 

Sicily, kingdom of, 304, 320, 
325, 328 

Simony, 286 

Slavs, war with Franks, 185; in- 
vasions in IX. century, 229; 
in Greece, 337; formation of 
states, 470-474 

^orbonne, the, 522 

Spain, Visigoths in, 44, 104, 114; 
Arabs in, 155, 351; Christian 
kingdoms of, 476-479; organ- 
isation of, 478 

"Spirituals," the, 505 

Stephen, King of England, 454 

Stilicho, 40-42, 125 

Strasburg, Oath of, 216 

Suger, 400, 402 

Sylvester II. (Gerbert), 244, 280, 
516 

Syria, conquered by the Arabs, 
149 

T 

Taxation, Roman, 9-11; Prank- 
ish, 201 



Templars, Knights, 359 
Teutonic Order, the, 328, 331, 

359, 474 
Theatre, origin of the, 543 
Theodora, Empress, 101 
Theodore, St., of Canterbury, 

130 
Theodoric, 5.5-62 
Theodosius the Great, 38 
TheodosiusII., 47, 100 
Third estate, the, 375, 386 
Trivium, the, 515 
Troubadours, the, 531 
Trowceres, the, 528 
Truce of God, 265 
Tunis, crusade against, 419 
Turks, the, 165, 347, 350 

U 

Ulfilas, 36 

Universities, mediseyal, 524 

Urban II., 298, 366 



Valentinian III, , 44, 51 
Vandals, 44-47, 102 
Vassalage, 208, 246, 253 
Vaudois, the, 506 
Venice, 349 
Verdun, treaty of, 217 
Villehardouin, 534 
Villes de bourgeoisie, 384 
Visigoths, 36-44, 48, 69 

W 

Waldenses, the; see Vaudois. 
W es^ex 445 

William I., England, 378, 449 
William II., England, 453 
Witenagemot, the, 449 



Yaroslaff the Great, 473 

Z 

Zeno, Emperor, 55 



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